A controversial bill with support from Republican lawmakers in Congress is up for consideration and could greatly expand deportation grounds to include DUI offenses, affecting thousands of green card holders and other noncitizens in the United States. The Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act (H.R. 6976), introduced by Congressman Barry Moore from Alabama, was passed by the House of Representatives on February 2024 with 274 votes for and 150 against, and is currently sitting before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
What the proposed law would change
Under current immigration law, a single DUI conviction generally does not automatically mean deportation proceedings. Immigration judges have had discretionary authority to consider various factors when weighing deportation consequences of offenses including rehabilitation efforts, time elapsed since the offense, family ties to the community, and whether there were any aggravating circumstances in the case.
The proposed legislation would change this entirely by introducing two substantial changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act:
- It would establish as grounds for inadmissibility “any non-citizen who has been convicted of, admits having committed or admits committing acts constituting the essential elements of driving while intoxicated or impaired.”
- Creating grounds for deportation for “any alien who has been convicted of an offense for driving while intoxicated or impaired” irrespective of whether the conviction constitutes a misdemeanor or felony under federal, state, tribal, or local law.
Wide scope raises alarm among immigration lawyers
Immigration attorneys are highly apprehensive about the sweeping language within the bill, specifically the clause that would deem inadmissible any foreign national who would, based solely upon such an admission, not even have acquired a formal conviction in a court of law. Tsang, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles, says, “This bill is alarming because you could be targeted just by an admission of drinking and driving. This would render you inadmissible to the United States regardless of whether the charges never made it to court, were dropped, or there was a much-delayed plea deal”.
Because it would apply retroactively to events prior to the law’s passage, green card holders with DUI convictions from years prior could be targeted for deportation proceedings. Landerholm Immigration, an immigration law firm, warned of this retroactive application, noting that the bill makes nearly every case (even a single one) a serious immigration issue, whether for green card holders, undocumented individuals, visa applicants, or those returning from international travel.
Current immigration enforcement priorities
The revisions coincide with Trump’s larger immigration enforcement strategy, under which deportation powers have been broadly exercised. Recently, Vice President JD Vance expressed that green card holders “don’t have an absolute right to be in the United States of America” while stressing that national security should take precedence.
According to the White House Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended more than 43,000 noncitizens for DUI-related offenses from 2018 to 2023. His administration has declared its backing for this proposal, with the White House Office of Management and Budget endorsing the bill.
Opposition and concerns on constitutionality
Against its detractors, it would not consider the circumstances surrounding those cases, neither would it consider their rehabilitation nor due process. Advocates on behalf of the migrants are saying that this zero-tolerance policy would separate families and target persons who had been active members of their communities for many years after committing a single error.
Due constitutional challenges on similar enforcement measures presented by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations have also been raised in relation with due process. In recent court suits challenging the Trump administration’s motion to invoke the Alien Enemies Act for purposes of deportation, a worthy debate is currently taking place regarding the legal limits on executive authority in immigration enforcement.
Potential impacts on green card community
The legislation could affect different classes of non-citizens, including lawful permanent residents, international students on F-1 visas, H-1B workers, and other visa holders. “If this law passes, anybody who is not a U.S. citizen—green card holders, international students, or H-1B workers—could be deemed inadmissible and deported for having a DUI on their record,” stated Tsang.
For green card holders, the bill would take away the current protection allowing immigration judges to consider community ties to the U.S., rehabilitation, and elapsed time since the crime in making deportation decisions. As it stands, under a law that would uphold such protections, the more serious DUIs or aggravated DUIs are more likely to lead to the initiation of removal proceedings; however, a conviction for a single, misdemeanor DUI rarely results in deportation.
Senate consideration and next steps
The bill now lies in the Senate awaiting action, with the Judiciary Committee as its current resting place. Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, with other Republican colleagues such as Senators Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Marco Rubio lending their support.
If it passes the Senate and is signed into law by President Trump, it would be one of the farthest-reaching legislation in the field of deportability that has seen passage in recent years, targeting thousands of legal permanent residents who had built their lives and families in the United States after past DUI incidents.
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