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Opening Statement Chairman Eliot L. Engel
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Hearing on "Deportees in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 3:00 p.m.

A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere will come to order.

Since becoming Chair of this Subcommittee earlier this year, I have traveled to several nations in the Western Hemisphere and met with leaders of many more. Each country has its own distinct issues and particular concerns. Some hope for more aid from the United States and some want better trade relationships. Some want us to join their fight against illicit narcotics and others just want to be treated with greater respect.

However, one theme has run consistently through virtually all of my conversations with leaders in the region: United States deportations of illegal and criminal aliens to their home countries.

Since 1997, U.S. immigration officials have deported more than 670,000 immigrants because of criminal convictions. According to Human Rights Watch, our deportation policies have separated an estimated 1.6 million families. Displacement of this many people, regardless of whether it is legal or in our national interest, is bound to have repercussions that must be dealt with.

Before going any further, I would like to be clear on one point: The United States has the right to deport any criminal or illegal immigrant. There is no serious debate about this point. The issues before this panel today are not whether we can remove these people or even, in general, whether we should. I think most, if not all members of this panel will agree that America should not be absorbing criminal immigrants.

Moreover, today's hearing on deportations is not an examination of our immigration policies. Members disagree, in good faith, about how to reform our immigration laws. But, that is not what we are considering today. That is a debate for another day and another forum.

Our laws requiring deportation of criminal and illegal immigrants changed substantially in the last decade. We expanded the range of crimes for which one could be deported to lesser violations, we vastly scaled back judicial review of deportees' individual circumstances, and we set the bar so high that we prevented consideration of a deportation's excessively harsh impact on individual families. We also expanded expedited removals, further limiting the possibility to consider fully the possibility of severe family disruption.

What was the result of these changes to our laws? Early last decade, deportations were running at about 40,000 per year. Today, we are removing more than 200,000 people per year. Mexico presents a particularly striking case. In FY 2005, almost 145,000 Mexicans were deported from the United States.

Again, I want to be clear: I'm not saying that we should stop deporting criminal or illegal aliens. That's not the point.

I am saying that the laws we changed are having major consequences which Congress has not fully considered. This hearing is the beginning of long-overdue Congressional oversight over the policy and implications of our country's deportation program.

At this point, however, I have only discussed half of the issue -- the deportation process and how our revised laws expanded the number of deportations. The other half is equally important, and, is in fact why we are here today: The impact on the recipient countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Recently, I met with the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. He told me in no uncertain terms that the thousands of deportees returning to his country were imposing a very difficult burden.

Likewise, last month, the Foreign Affairs Committee held a meeting with the Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers of fourteen Caribbean nations during the historic Conference on the Caribbean. Not surprisingly the thousands of deportees returning to Caribbean nations each year led the list of irritants in our bilateral relations.

I am aware that many in Latin America and the Caribbean believe that deportees are likely to get involved in criminal activity once they return to their home countries and that they have contributed to high crime rates. I think it is important to dispel this notion. According to a recent report by the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, the average criminal deportee, at least in the Caribbean region, is not involved in criminal activity. And, a study by the U.S. Ambassador in Trinidad and Tobago found similar results.

I and others have told our friends in Latin America and the Caribbean that Congress will not be ending deportations any time soon. The United States has no obligation to provide a residence for non-citizens who violate our laws.

I find that foreign leaders generally understand this point, albeit reluctantly. But, they always ask if there is anything we can do to help them handle the large numbers of returnees. The United States is already supporting a reintegration program in Haiti through the International Organization for Migration which is assisting arriving deportees. Should we support similar programs in other countries? Are there other ways we can work with America's friends in the hemisphere, such as improving notice of deportees, expanding the range of information we share with recipient nations about each deportee, or helping reconnect separated families? What are other countries which deport criminal or illegal aliens to the region, such as the United Kingdom or Canada, doing to help recipient nations with reintegration efforts?

That's why we are holding today's hearing. We need to fully understand the deportation process, how it is affecting countries in the region, and the impact upon families here and abroad before we can recommend what should be done.

I am pleased to say that the witnesses testifying before the Subcommittee today will shine a bright spotlight on the U.S. deportation policy and will help us understand the issue better. On the first panel, Gary Mead, Assistant Director of the Office of Detention and Removal, of the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will describe the deportation process, explain how and what we communicate with recipient nations, and give us a sense of how many people we are sending back to foreign countries.

Also on the first panel will be Ambassador Charles Shapiro, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. He will pick up where Mr. Mead leaves off by sharing his understanding of the impact of our deportation policy on countries in the region, explaining what we are now doing to help our friends in the region manage the deportees, and telling us about whether the State Department thinks we could more aggressively support integration programs throughout the hemisphere.

Our second panel, which will technically be called a briefing because of the presence of foreign government and intergovernmental officials, will begin with Annmarie Barnes, Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry of National Security of Jamaica. She will speak on behalf of the CARICOM nations and will tell about the deportation process from the point of view of a recipient nation. She will share how much notice Jamaica and other countries receive, how they are notified, and whether such notification and information is adequate. She will also inform us about how nations in the CARICOM region manage the deportees upon arrival, whether they have any programs to reintegrate deportees, what is most effective, and what are the regional expectations of the United States.

Ms. Barnes will be followed by Maureen Achieng, the Chief of Mission for Haiti of the International Organization for Migration. She will describe the ongoing integration program IOM is operating in Haiti and other integration programs IOM has run in El Salvador and other nations. She will then offer her comments on best practices for a deportee integration program.

Next, Dr. Nestor Rodriguez, Chairman of the Department of Sociology of the University of Houston, will help the Subcommittee understand how the deportation policies have developed of the last decade and share the results of his extensive research in the field. Dr. Rodriguez currently has an article appearing in the Journal of Migration on the topic of deportation.

The Subcommittee will next hear from, Allison Parker, Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch. Just last week, Human Rights Watch issued a report, written by Ms. Parker, entitled "Mandatory Deportation Laws Harm American Families." This groundbreaking report talks about how our changed deportation laws have vastly increased the numbers of people we are sending to foreign countries and how they are hurting families here and abroad.

Finally, Marsha L. Garst, Commonwealth's Attorney from Rockingham County will discuss how the local justice system works with the Department of Homeland Security and with corresponding agencies of recipient countries to allow for adequate preparation in dealing with the criminal deportees in their recipient countries

I welcome our guests and will now ask my good friend, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Mr. Burton, if he would like to offer an opening statement.