Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Fair Adjudications for Immigrants Act. This legislation would ensure that immigrants with criminal convictions do not face barriers to naturalization and experience unfair removals after their convictions have been dismissed, expunged, or pardoned by a Federal or State locality.

What the bill would do. The Fair Adjudications for Immigrants Act is important in ensuring immigrants are not unjustly treated after receiving a criminal charge that never resulted in a conviction or after a previous conviction no longer stands.

Specifically, this bill would ensure that immigrants whose convictions have been overturned are not penalized when they are no longer considered valid in the court of conviction or for sentences that have been fully suspended by the sentencing court.

By redefining the term ``conviction'' in the Immigration and Nationality Act, this legislation also clarifies that any adjudication that is appealable or in which the court has issued a judicial recommendation against removal or probation without judgment will not count as a conviction.

The bill would apply retroactively to any conviction, adjudication, or judgement entered before, on, or after the enactment of this bill. Finally, it establishes that an immigrant cannot be removed on the basis of a conviction if the sentencing court issues a recommendation against removal to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Why the bill is needed. Under current law, rather than having access to many rehabilitative measures that are afforded in the criminal justice system, immigrants with dismissed criminal charges, suspended sentences, or criminal convictions that are no longer considered valid in the court of conviction still face severe consequences in the immigration court system.

Some of the immigration consequences that immigrants can face include unjust removals, mandatory detention, and barriers to naturalization.

It is imperative that we resolve this disparity between immigration and criminal law to prevent those immigrants with dismissed criminal charges or with convictions that are no longer considered valid in the court of conviction from continuing to face punitive immigration consequences. ______

By Mr. THUNE (for himself and Ms. Smith):

S. 2959. A bill to provide that, due to disruptions caused by COVID- 19, applications for impact aid funding for fiscal year 2023 may use certain data submitted in the fiscal year 2022 application; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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