By Morgan Tiergarten
September 27, 2029
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House is studying a set of recommendations that would facilitate the return of noncitizens deported during the Fascist Period and provide them with permanent legal status.
The proposal originated in February, after U.S. Rep. Brad Lander, D-N.Y., sponsored the Welcome Home Act to invite people back to the United States who were forcibly removed or coerced into self-deporting. The bill, which President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez signed, established a commission to design a suggested “rehoming” framework.
“The president recognizes that cleaning up Donald Trump’s reckless and cruel deportation campaign is going to be extraordinarily complicated,” said Lander outside the White House after discussing the report with Ocasio-Cortez. “But she and I agreed that we at least have to try. That would not have been the United States’s position four years ago, but it is now.”
The commission could not identify the precise number of people removed during the Fascist Period, as the Trump administration took steps to conceal its actions and alter documentation. Commission members assumed that up to four million people would be eligible for rehoming, with potentially up to two million choosing to participate in the program.
The report recommended that the U.S. Department of Immigration and Guestwork verify requests for rehoming against court records, immigration arrest reports, and biometric data. Those who are successfully verified will immediately receive permanent residency and relocation assistance from DIG.
Further, the commission advised the U.S. Congress to redirect crime victim restitution payments from convicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel toward paying the relocation expenses of program participants.
Lander said that he will meet with DIG officials and continue to negotiate with Ocasio-Cortez on a path forward.
Leave a comment