Forced Apart

Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States Deportation Policy

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Acknowledgements

I. Summary

II. Recommendations

To the President of the United States

To the United States Congress

To the Department of Homeland Security

To the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration

To the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

To Criminal Defense Attorneys

III. Deportation Law Based on Criminal Convictions Before 1996

Early History of the Deportation Power

Crimes of Moral Turpitude and Aggravated Felonies

IV. Deportation Law Based on Criminal Convictions After 1996

Specific Crimes Rendering Non-Citizens Deportable

Aggravated Felonies

Crimes of Moral Turpitude

Definitions Include Relatively Minor Crimes

Elimination of Defenses to Deportation

Elimination of 212(c) Waiver of Deportation

Limits on Withholding: Returns to Persecution

Retroactive Effects

Congressional Regrets

V. National Statistics on Deportation for Crimes

VI. US Deportation Policy Violates Human Rights

The Right to Raise Defenses to Deportation

Proportionality

Family Unity

Children’s Rights

Ties to a Country

Length of Legal Residence

Legal Residence in the United States Since Childhood

Military Service

Training and Employment

Protection from Return to Persecution for Refugees

VII. Conclusion: The Need for a Legislative Solution

Appendix: A History of Human Rights Watch’s FOIA Request for Deportation Data PDF file - 3 pages, 55 kb

July 2007   Volume 19, No. 3(G)