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Anti terrorism effective death penalty act 1996 { November 17 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001793270_exportside17.html http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001793270_exportside17.html Monday, November 17, 2003 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. Terrorism fear prompted get-tough deportation policy By The Associated Press For 210 years, if you broke the law in America it made little difference where you were born. Citizen or not, you were sent to prison or placed on probation — but you were not likely to get deported. As late as the 1970s, criminal deportations never exceeded 300 in any one year. The numbers increased dramatically when Congress, hoping to reduce crime in America, directed the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1986 to "focus on the removal of those deemed to be the greatest threat to society." But it was only the beginning. In 1996, after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the new worry was terrorism. Even though it turned out the perpetrators were native-born, the attack prompted dramatic changes in U.S. immigration law. The 1996 Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, giving the government new powers to combat terrorism, included a section that overhauled criminal deportation law. It redefined deportable felonies to include any crime carrying a sentence of one year in prison, even if the sentence was suspended. Previously, federal immigration judges could waive deportations at their discretion, taking into consideration the nature of the crime, the length of time the immigrant had lived in America and the hardship deportation might cause the immigrant's family. But the 1996 law made deportations virtually automatic. The only aggravated felons who can appeal a deportation order are legal permanent residents who pleaded guilty to a crime that was not a deportable offense at the time it was committed. Those who were convicted of such crimes after a trial face mandatory deportation. Several members of Congress who voted for the act did so reluctantly. For example, Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, who died last year, had argued that the law made crimes such as forgery, car theft and prostitution deportable even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Since the passage of the act, 500,000 noncitizens convicted of crimes have been deported.

1996 mandatory detention law { January 15 2003 } Anti terrorism effective death penalty act 1996 { November 17 2003 } Court overturns part of key anti terrorism law Supreme court reviews 1996 detention law Files Listed: 4

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