U.S. Immigration Law Reforms

How could we reform U.S. immigration law?

Here are twelve suggestions:

1. Establish a ten year statute of limitations on deportability.

2. Decriminalize illegal entry to the U.S. (currently a misdemeanor that takes a disproportionate share of the U.S. District Court criminal docket).

3. Abolish ICE. Transfer deporting detained criminals to the U.S. Marshall's service. Transfer general immigration enforcement to the FBI.

4. End the Article I immigration court system and replace it with a right to judicial review in Article III U.S. District Courts. Article I immigration courts do not provide meaningful judicial review because they are not independent.

5. Eliminate border control officer discretion to deny entry without cause at ports of entry. They could still deny entry with cause, subject to judicial review in an expedited summary procedure.

6. Create a right to counsel in deportation proceedings.

7. Appoint a guardian ad litem and counsel for every unaccompanied minor in immigration proceedings.

8. End lawful permanent resident status. Everyone entitled to that status (and everyone already holding that status) would be made a U.S. citizen. We don't need a second class citizen category.

9. End denaturalization. If someone is made a U.S. citizen by fraud, they should stay a U.S. citizen and be prosecuted criminally for the fraud.

10. Have Congress and not the President set immigration quotas. Eliminate any legal authority to cap refugee admissions.

11. End all deportations to countries that someone has never lived in.

12. Ban private prisons for immigration detentions, and mandate minimum standards for conditions there the keep families together and are not punitive.