Washington, D.C. (December 1, 2022) – Recalcitrant countries, those which fail to accept the return of their nationals who are under removal orders from the United States, are back in the news. In the wake of Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, Communist China announced it was “suspending China-U.S. cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants”. In addition, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) has introduced the
Alien Criminal Expulsion Act ( “
ACE Act”), that mandates and strengthens the sanctions used by the United States to encourage foreign governments to comply with their international obligation to accept the return of their citizens.
China is one of the worst offenders, but there is a lengthy list of recalcitrant countries, including Laos, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Vietnam, and Iran. The refusal to issue travel documents and accept a deportable citizen’s return results in detention costs and, most importantly, reduced public safety – a 2001 Supreme Court decision prohibits the government from detaining a deportable foreigner for more than six months in most cases. After six months, the Department of Homeland Security is forced to release them onto America's streets, despite often having significant criminal histories.
On today’s episode of
Parsing Immigration Policy, Rep. Tiffany and Jon Feere, the Center’s Director of Investigations and former ICE Chief of Staff, discuss the powerful tool the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides by allowing the U.S. to withhold visas from recalcitrant countries, the need for tightening and strengthening the language in the INA, the executive’s lack of enforcement, and the ACE Act.
In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and the host of Parsing Immigration Policy, discusses his predictions for apprehension numbers and border policies post-Title 42. A federal court has ruled that Title 42, the public-health rule that allows the Border Patrol to expel border-jumpers without a hearing, must be lifted by December 21.
