Grounds and Procedures Relating to Deportation

Since the enactment of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, our laws contain the most detailed and complicated enumeration prescribed anywhere in the world for the deportation and disqualification of aliens seeking admission or to retain residence in a sovereign nation. The severity and arbitrary character of our deportation laws stems not only from the substantive grounds but also from the absence of a statute of limitations and the retroactive application of the deportation mandate. There is a failure to forgive past sins and a failure to overlook minor infractions which do not warrant the drastic penalty of deportation.