NIJC, Deported People and Families, Members of Congress, and Partner Organizations Urge U.S. Government to Remedy Unjust Deportations
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), along with members of Congress, unjustly deported immigrants and their family members, and immigrant rights advocates, launched a new campaign today calling on the Biden administration to create a centralized system for people who have been unjustly deported to seek return to the United States.
NIJC announced the Chance to Come Home campaign with a virtual event and short film premiere featuring people who have been forced to leave behind their families, communities, and livelihoods as a result of deportation. The film, produced by award-winning filmmaker Alex Rivera in partnership with NIJC, tells the stories of U.S. Navy veteran Howard Bailey and mother-of-three Vanessa Vaquiz Mendoza, who were each unjustly deported by the U.S. government.
“Deportation is among the harshest punishments a government can impose – separating people from their loved ones and livelihoods,” said NIJC associate director of policy Nayna Gupta. “I’ve spoken with so many deported individuals who have clearly unjust circumstances in their cases and sometimes strong legal claims for status in the United States but have no viable avenue for presenting their case to return. The Chance to Come Home campaign urges the U.S. government to use laws that already exist to create a central process to review requests for return from unjustly deported people. It is a simple remedy for harsh injustice that would bring some integrity to the fraught immigration system.”
A new campaign website at immigrantjustice.org/ChancetoComeHome features the stories of 10 deported advocates who joined the Chance to Come Home campaign in hopes of accelerating their requests to reunite with their loved ones and in support of unjustly deported people living in exile around the world.
Ms. Vaquiz Mendoza was deported to El Salvador after living in the United States for 20 years, most recently in North Carolina. Prior to deportation, Ms. Vaquiz Mendoza was detained by ICE at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, where she was one of several women subjected to non-consensual medical procedures. In mental anguish, and receiving inadequate medical care for ongoing physical trauma, she felt she had no choice but to agree to deportation, separating her from her three children, including her disabled son. A judge recently reopened Vanessa’s immigration case, but ICE still refuses to return her to the United States.
“I hope that I do get a chance to go back and spend as much time [as] I can with my kids to be there with them, to see them grow up, and do things right,” said Ms. Vaquiz Mendoza.
The new campaign originates from a white paper NIJC released in 2021 providing a roadmap for the Biden administration to bring home unjustly deported individuals. Since the paper’s release, six of 11 people featured in the paper have returned to the U.S. and reunited with their families. Mr. Bailey, deported for a single marijuana conviction after serving in the U.S. Navy, was among the people featured in the paper and who a decade later Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) granted the opportunity to return home.
Members of Congress joined the campaign launch to expose the harm that deportations have caused for the communities they represent and demand a more just immigration system.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California, who fought for the return of Mr. Bailey, shared his remarks expressing his continued support for the Chance to Come Home campaign: "I know the fear that exists for immigrant families who have seen just how quickly the government can deport a valued member of the community and leave a family devasted, often without hope for a timely return. I’m proud to have played a part in helping reunite Howard with his family, but too many other families continue to wait as their loved ones are stranded thousands of miles away.”
U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said: “These folks who have been deported have strong legal grounds for remaining in this country. We know folks are being deported in ways that are just grossly unfair that don't sit with the values of us as Americans. … They have a right to stay. And this is why I'm going to continue to fight for a single central unit within the Department of Homeland Security to process and better consider the request that folks have not to be deported.”
U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri’s 5th District said: “Right now, there are families across the United States who are struggling to just get by because there is some kind of hang up in our system. … This nation is connected inseparably by many bonds that go to many different lands and what we want is a place in our country—we want to be known as a place where justice and human rights are paramount.”
U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat of New York’s 13th District said: "Leonel Pinilla and many others who were unjustly deported from their families deserve due process from DHS. I along with Congressman Cleaver, Congressman Trone and Senator Booker are leading a letter to DHS on behalf of the Chance to Come Home Campaign. Let's bring them home."
Three additional deported advocates and their families participated in the launch event, and shared why they are fighting for a chance to come home.
Samuel Anthony lived in the United States for 40 years before ICE deported him from Washington D.C. to Sierra Leone under the Trump administration for a drug conviction for which he already served a harsh prison sentence and after years of rehabilitation.
“Sam and I came to America [on] August 8, 1978, to be with family, which were our parents, our mom and dad. Families can't be whole with missing parts,” said Samilia Anthony, Mr. Anthony’s sister. “Currently, Sam is our missing part.”
Tina Hamdi lost her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protection due to a single conviction that resulted from domestic abuse. The government deported her to Morocco, separating her from her two young children in Ohio
“Being a teacher now and being around other kids and not my own—what it makes me feel is like a bittersweet thing. It’s like a blessing but at the same time has helped me grow drastically,” Ms. Hamdi said. “My biggest hope is to just be able to go back and show my kids the woman that I’ve become.”
Carlos Sauceda served thirty years in prison for a violent act committed at age 15 under the influence of gang members. After years of profound rehabilitation, a California parole board granted Mr. Sauceda release. But under the Trump administration, ICE quickly detained and deported him to Honduras. He was forced to flee to escape dangerous repercussions for renouncing his gang membership. He has since won his immigration case, but ICE still refuses to grant him return to the U.S.
“We have a lot of people that [are] fighting with us, so we’re not alone,” Mr. Sauceda said. “There [are] amazing people that you see here today and all the others that you will meet — that’s what they do — they give us hope. And we will fight.”
The additional deported advocates who are leading the call for a Chance to Come Home are: Goura Ndiaye, Ibrahima Keita, Leonel Pinilla, Juan Carlos Romero Escobar, Assia Serrano, and Paul Pierrilus. All six of whom lived in the United States for decades, built their lives and families and served their communities, and have survived the traumatic experience of deportation and the exile that follows. Their stories are all uniquely different, but they all share the same goal of reunification with loved ones in the United States.
The Chance to Come Home campaign launch was the result of months of collaboration between NIJC and nearly two dozen organizations that have provided legal representation and advocacy for the 10 deported advocates featured in the campaign. Those organizations are: Ohio Immigrant Alliance, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, ACLU of Northern California, Neighborhood Defender Service (New York), Office of the Appellate Defender, Immigrant Defense Project, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Haitian Bridge Alliance, University of Georgia School of Law’s Community Help Clinic, Cleary Gottlieb, Bronx Defenders, Law Office of Matthew Bray, Perkins Coie LLP, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Just Counsel LLC, Post Deportation Human Rights Project, Immigrant Rights Clinic Washington and Lee University School of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law Immigration Clinic, New York University Law School Immigrant Rights Clinic, Beyond Legal Aid.