Jayapal on Her Opposition to Bill Allowing for Deportation of Illegals Convicted of DWI: ‘Stop Referring to People as “Illegals”‘

Jayapal: “I rise in strong opposition to H.R.6976. Once again, the majority is wasting our time by putting forward a piece of legislation that has zero chance of becoming law and that is extraordinarily broad. No one condones driving under the influence, we should do everything we can to prevent people from getting behind the wheel while intoxicated, but this bill designed to scapegoat and denigrate immigrants will not solve the serious problem of DUIs. Public safety threats, including those who have been convicted of serious DUI offenses are already inadmissible and removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act and this bill would not change or enhance that. Under the INA a conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude where the punishment can be for a year or longer makes an individual deportable. Courts have ruled over and over again that serious DUI offenses that put others at risk are CIMTs and make the perpetrators deportable.

But this bill isn’t about serious offenses, Mr. Speaker, far from it, the bill says that a conviction for a single DUI offense, misdemeanor, or felony makes you instantly deportable and an admission to such an offense makes you instantly inadmissible, no questions asked. I can understand maybe the appeal of something that sounds like a zero tolerance policy, but let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, if we had that kind of policy here in the House of Representatives, there would be several members that would not be members of this chamber. Moreover, by including every single type of DUI offense this bill would make someone deportable for not driving under the influence. That’s because states have a wide variety of opinions on what is a DUI. For example, Arizona’s DUI statute allows people to be charged with a DUI if they are intoxicated and have, quote, ‘physical control of their vehicle.’ The Ninth Circuit found that the breadth of this statute means that — and I’m quoting here — ‘one may be convicted under it for sitting in one’s own car, in one’s own driveway with the key in the ignition and a bottle of beer in one’s hand,’ end quote.

Because of this, the Ninth Circuit determined that a conviction under the statute was insufficient to count as a deportable offense. As the court put it, drunk and driving is despicable. Having physical control of a car while drinking is not — their words, not mine. As many places across the country experienced cold spells in the last week or so there are states that would allow prosecution of someone simply if they were sitting in their car with the heat on while inebriated, even if it was in their own driveway. Current law allows judges to use their discretion to look at the broader facts of the case. This bill would strip that discretion away from them, and would mandate that even someone whose only crime was sitting in a parked car while inebriated must be deported. Let’s not forget that deportability grounds like this, the one that this bill would create impact immigrants who are here lawfully, those who my colleagues always like to say, came the right way. By the way, Mr. Speaker, I’m one of those. I came here to this country at 16 years old, it took me 17 years to get my citizenship. And here I am, as a proud member of the United States House of Representatives.

Are we really saying that we think the best use of our very limited federal government resources is to work on deporting a green card holder who decided to sleep in their car rather than drive home drunk from a bar, a green card holder not trying to drive drunk, just trying to stay warm? I certainly don’t think that’s a good use of our resources, it’s certainly not a good use of our time on this floor. But my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it clear that they’re not interested in sensible solutions, just in sensationalism. This bill is another example of that. And I hope my colleagues will stop referring to people as illegals. People are human beings. They have different statuses. Some are undocumented. If you want to say some are illegal — but let’s not call human beings illegal — tired of that language. I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and I yield back the balance of my time.”