While the U.S. may be unable to come to a consensus on what to do with the majority of the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants in our country, few would argue that those convicted of crimes deserve a chance to stay here. The problem is their native countries won't take them back. To address this issue and take a step forward in immigration reform, which has been all but paralyzed, Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) introduced the Accountability in Immigrant Repatriation (AIR) Act in March 2008.
The AIR act would suspend all pending visa petitions from countries refusing to take back or repatriate criminal aliens. It would also direct the State Department to withhold funds under the Foreign Assistance Act to countries that persist in this refusal-an enforcement mechanism deemed necessary by Specter, who has stepped in personally to push countries to accept their deportees.
Included in Specter's press release about the bill is a copy of a letter he sent to the President of Egypt beseeching his support to repatriate a criminal alien, Mr. Abdel Fattah. Convicted of an aggravated felony in 2002, Mr. Fattah's detention cost Pennsylvania over 250,000 dollars in 2007 alone. Since Fattah lacks an Egyptian passport, Egypt won't recognize him as a citizen and accept him back into the country. And despite the fact that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is certain of his origin and that Mr. Fattah has called Egypt his country, Egyptian officials won't issue him a new passport.
The AIR bill aims to combat stalemates such as the one with Egypt over Fattah. It requires reports to Congress every 90 days on the countries that deny repatriation. Once received, the report triggers denial of foreign aid as well as suspension of visa issuances to the listed countries. However, the President does have the option of requesting a waiver for the sanctions if doing so is accepted to be in our national security interests.
On April 10th, Representatives Michael Castle (R-DE) and Charlie Dent (R-PA) joined Specter's efforts by introducing H.R. 5761, the House companion of The Accountability in Immigrant Repatriation Act. Neither bill has been scheduled for debate.
Castle identifies eight ‘problem' countries - Laos, Iran, Eritrea, Vietnam, Jamaica, China, India, and Ethiopia - that are refusing to repatriate over 139,000 aliens. The situation is not just a financial drain on the U.S. detention system, but it's also a safety issue.
Once a criminal illegal immigrant finishes serving their sentence, immigration can only hold him or her for six months. After that, if his/her home country refuses to take them, he/she is released back into the general US population. In a press conference held on April 10th, Castle stated that over 18,000 criminal aliens who served time in U.S. jails and prisons have been released "onto the streets."
"...I think what we're doing here is helping establish a reasonable priority, getting people out of the country who should be out of the country," said Castle. "It will free up resources so that ICE and others can use those resources to process others who are in the country unlawfully."
Specter is optimistic that Democrats will support the bill.
"We have a lot of concern about the undocumented immigrants, how to handle them, the 12 to 20 million or however many there are," said Specter. "But where somebody's been convicted of a crime, there's no question that they ought to be deported. And their home countries have a responsibility to take them back."
Specter, Castle and Dent are aware that there may be objections to a mandatory denial of visas on the grounds of foreign relations. However, they see it as the force needed to resolve an unnecessary financial burden on US taxpayers and a public safety issue, which everyone can rally around. If passed, the AIR act may show that the best chance for immigration reform is through incremental rather than comprehensive legislation.