Cornyns Caseys Law Would Protect Us

McAllen Monitor In the complicated political arena of U.S. immigration issues one thing we can all agree on is that the safety of American citizens should never be compromised. Therefore we firmly stand behind a measure that was recently proposed by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas which would target and penalize countries that refuse to repatriate its most violent citizens who are here illegally and who pose a threat to ours. Cornyn along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy both Democrats from Connecticut last month introduced the Remedies for Refusal of Repatriation Act. Also called Caseys Law it is named after Casey Chadwick from Norwich Connecticut who was killed in June by a Haitian citizen months after he was released from jail after serving more than a decade for attempted murder. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were forced to release him after Haitian officials repeatedly refused to accept his deportation and repatriate him.

Illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes should not be left on our streets and if other countries wont cooperate in taking them back there should be consequences Cornyn said in a statement. I thank Sen. Blumenthal for working with me to address this ongoing problem and keep our country safe from dangerous individuals who shouldnt be here.

Under the law countries that systematically and unreasonably refuse or delay repatriation of their citizens who commit violent crimes here felonies and/or pose a threat to U.S. citizens and are in this country illegally would face penalties. This could include the refusal by the United States to issue visas to citizens from that country. These countries also would be listed on U.S. federal websites after an annual audit is submitted to Congress identifying the countries that refuse to comply. There are reasonable provisions in the bill to allow for diplomatic outreach by our Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of State to these countries and we expect that if enacted into law appropriate notification would be sufficiently given prior to any action taken. But we agree that if diplomatic channels fail then the United States must take stricter actions. This is especially important since Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson in November 2014 announced new deportation priorities for immigrants here illegally and that includes those who are convicted felons and pose a security threat. Therefore we should not delay in returning them. As long as we do our citizens remain at risk. As ICE Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale told a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last month: Although the majority of countries adhere to their international obligation to accept the return of their citizens who are not eligible to remain in the United States ICE faces unique challenges with those countries that systematically refuse or delay. ... ICE specifically takes very seriously its mission to remove foreign nationals in a timely and efficient manner and any challenges associated with limitations on the ability to do so. Countries that ICE officials say have been uncooperative include: Afghanistan Algeria the Peoples Republic of China Cuba Iran Iraq Libya Somalia and Zimbabwe. Unfortunately the issue has been hampered by a 2011 Supreme Court decision Zadvydas v. Davis in which the court ruled that immigrants subject to final orders of removal may not be detained beyond 180 days unless there is a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future. Therefore when countries refuse to repatriate their citizens or delay repatriation beyond 180 days ICE has no alternative but to release them into society. Cornyns measure we believe would provide a suitable alternative and would also send a strong message to other countries that dare to threaten the security of our nation.