Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

It has been suggested that Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

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The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub.L. 104-208, Div. C, 110 Stat. 3009-546 (often referred to as "i-RAI-ruh" by federal appellate law clerks, and sometimes abbreviated to IIRIRA) vastly changed the immigration laws of the United States. In 1996 the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA 96) was passed and signed by former President of the United States Bill Clinton. Title III of this new act created the notion of “unlawfully present” persons; specifically, the three-year, ten-year, and ermanent bars were formed.

This act states that if a person has been in the United States for 180 days but less than 365 days they must remain outside the United States for three years unless they obtain a pardon. If they have been in the United States for 365 days or more they must stay outside the United States for ten years unless they obtain a pardon. If the person returns to the United States without the pardon they cannot apply for a waiver for a period of ten years. This is the permanent bar. All of this applies regardless of whether the person has a United States citizen spouse and/or children.

US Family Unity (USFU) is fighting to change this law and to have a humane alternative to the permanent bar.

Constitutional issues within the law

Previously, immediate deportation was triggered only for offences that could lead to five years or more in jail. Under the Act, minor offences such as shoplifting, may make an individual eligible for deportation. The Act also applies to residents who have married American citizens and have American-born children.

When IIRIRA was passed in 1996, it was applied retroactively to all those convicted of deportable offenses. This included US residents who committed minor offences decades ago.

• However, in 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Congress did not intend IIRIRA to be applied retroactively to those who pleaded guilty to a crime prior to the enactment of IIRIRA, if that person would not have been deportable at the time that he pleaded guilty. (INS v. St. Cyr).
• In spite of the 2001 ruling the way the IIRIRA law is used in practice has had so little public scrutiny and oversight so as to make its further use questionable.

In an effort to curb illegal immigration, Congress voted to double the U.S. Border Patrol to 10,000 agents over five years and mandated the construction of fences at the most heavily trafficked areas of the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress also approved a pilot program to check the immigration status of job applicants.

IIRIRA's mandatory detention provisions have also been repeatedly challenged, with less success.

Deportation issues

Deportees may be held in jail for months, even as much as two years, before being brought before an immigration board, at which defendants need to pay for their own legal representation. In 2001, the Supreme Court curtailed the Immigration Service's ability to hold deportees indefinitely. (Zadvydas v. Davis)

• The Act has been applied much more vigorously since 9/11. At least 1000 British citizens were affected by the law in 2003.
• In one case, an 83-year-old Frenchman, who had lived in the US for 52 years, was held for an old minor offence for seven months and then deported to France, though he no longer had any ties there. He also lost his US social security benefits. [1]

Section 287(g) and relations between federal and lower levels of government

IIRIRA addressed the relationship between the federal government and local governments. Section 287(g) is a program of the act that deputizes state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce immigration matters. ^{[1] [2][3]} This provision was implemented by local and state authorities in five states, California, Arizona, Alabama, Florida and North Carolina by the end of 2006. ^[4]

See also

• Cambodian American Repatriation
• DREAM Act

References

External links

• Text of IIRIRA (See pg. 547 in this document).
• Stephen Davis, New Statesman, November 22, 2004, "Deported from America"
• USCIS Factsheet, March 1997
• INS v. St. Cyr
• Zadvydas v. Davis
• USCIS Summary of the Act
• Text of the Act
• "This American Life" on 'Immigration'
• A true story about how this law plays out