SM 17-001 — Legal Resident Military Veteran Deportation

SENATEFirst MEMORIALRegular 17-001Session BYSeventy-first SENATOR(S)General Crowder,Assembly Aguilar,STATE Baumgardner,OF Cooke,COLORADO Coram,ENGROSSED Court,LLS Donovan,Fenberg,Fields,Garcia,Gardner,Guzman,Hill,Holbert,Jahn,Jones,NO. Kagan, Kefalas, Kerr, Lambert, Lundberg, Marble, Martinez Humenik, Merrifield, Moreno, Neville T., Priola, Scott, Smallwood, Sonnenberg, Tate, Todd, Williams A., Zenzinger, Granth.m MEMORIALIZINGTHEPRESIDENTOFTHEUNITEDSTATES TO SUPPORT VETERANS WHO HONORABLY SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY.

WHEREAS,M17-0516.01 VeteransJery ofPayne theSM17-001 UnitedSENATE StatesSPONSORSHIP militaryCrowder, areSenate notCommittees alwaysSENATE citizens,MEMORIAL some17-001 areM legalEMORIALIZINGTHEPRESIDENTOFTHE residentsU ofNITED theSTATESTOSUPPORT UnitedVETERANS States;WHO HONORABLY SERVED IN THE U NITED S TATES MILITARY .

andWHEREAS,VeteransoftheUnitedStatesmilitaryarenotalways WHEREAS,ManyveteransfoughtfortheUnitedStatesintheUnitedcitizens, Statessome militaryare duringlegal Worldresidents Warof II, the KoreanUnited war,States; Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq as well as other conflicts, and many of these veterans served with honor and distinction;

and WHEREAS,Over500,000foreign-bornveteransoftheUnitedStatesWHEREAS, militaryMany residedveterans infought for the United States in 2016;the United States military during World War II, the Korean war, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq as well as other conflicts, and many of these veterans served with honor and distinction;

and WHEREAS, AccordingOver to500,000 departmentforeign-born veterans of defensethe data,United moreStates thanmilitary 65,000immigrantsresided bornin outside the United StateswereservingonactiveStates duty in 2008,2016; and this represents approximately 5% of all active-duty personnel;

and WHEREAS, EachAccording year,to arounddepartment 8,000of noncitizensdefense enlistdata, more than 65,000 immigrantsbornoutsidetheUnitedStates were serving on active duty in the2008, military;and this represents approximately 5% of all active-duty personnel;

and g 7 WHEREAS, OverEach 4%year, ofaround all8,000 militarynoncitizens casualtiesenlist betweenin Septemberthe 11,E 2001,d and2 DecemberA 31,e 2013,7 wereN foreign-bornl serviceh members;Shading denotes HOUSE amendment.

andDouble WHEREAS,underlining Somedenotes ofSENATE theseamendSeitr veterans,Capital ofletters whomindicate mostnew arematerial honorablyto discharged,be andadded into someexisting casesstatuteF decorated,M haveDashes receivedthrough deportation notices from the Departmentwords ofindicate Homelanddeletions Securityfrom becauseexisting ofstatute. old or minor misdemeanor records, including those that predate their military service;

andmilitary; WHEREAS, President Bill Clinton signed the "Illegal Immigration ReformandImmigrant ResponsibilityActof 1996",whichincreasedthe list of misdemeanor crimes that could result in deportation of a legal resident;

and WHEREAS,About3,000militaryveteranshavebeendeportedunderWHEREAS,Over4%ofallmilitarycasualtiesbetweenSeptember the11, law2001, sinceand itDecember passed31, twenty2013, yearswere ago;foreign-born service members;

and WHEREAS,WHEREAS,Someoftheseveterans,ofwhommostarehonorably Thedischarged, factand thatin asome legalcases residentdecorated, ofhave thereceived Uniteddeportation Statesnotices hasfrom honorably served in the UnitedDepartment Statesof militaryHomeland isSecurity notbecause takenof intoold accountor whenminor determiningmisdemeanor whetherrecords, toincluding deportthose athat legalpredate residenttheir formilitary aservice; misdemeanor;

and WHEREAS,PresidentBillClintonsignedthe"IllegalImmigration ReformandImmigrantResponsibilityAct of 1996",whichincreasedthe list of misdemeanor crimes that could result in deportation of a legal resident;

and WHEREAS, About 3,000 military veterans have been deported under the law since it passed twenty years ago;

and WHEREAS,Thefactthatalegalresidentof theUnitedStateshas honorably served in the United States military is not taken into account when determining whether to deport a legal resident for a misdemeanor;

now, therefore, BeBeItResolvedbytheSenateoftheSeventy-firstGeneralAssembly It Resolved by the Senate of the Seventy-first General Assembly of the State of Colorado:

(1) Hereby declare our support for addressing this situation in a way that recognizes the sacrifices made byveteransby veterans and honors their service;

(2) Recognize the need totoupholdournation'svaluesandthehigh uphold our nation's values and the high standards for our citizens and immigrant population;

(3) Recognize that the criminal justice system, particularly -2- 001 veterans' courts, have moved on a path toward restorative justice;

(4) UrgeUrgethatmisdemeanorconvictionsforactsthatarenotcrimes that misdemeanor convictions for acts that are not crimes against persons or violent misdemeanors, and particularly misdemeanor PAGE 2-SENATE MEMORIAL 17-001 convictions for which an honorably discharged veteran has participated inarestorativejusticeprogram,shouldbeexcusedinevaluatingwhether to deport an honorably discharged veteran who is a legal resident;

Trump, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security adopt protocols to thoroughly evaluate, based on the above considerations and on a case-by-casebasis,honorablydischargedveteranswhoarelegalresidentscase-by-case andhaveoldorminormisdemeanorbasis, offensesbeforemakingthedecisionhonorably discharged veterans who are legal residentsandhaveoldorminormisdemeanoroffensesbeforemakingthe decision to deport them.

____________________________-3- ____________________________001 Kevin Grantham Effie Ameen PRESIDENT OF SECRETARY OF THE SENATE THE SENATE PAGE 3-SENATE MEMORIAL 17-001