Trump Wants To Deport Noncitizens Using A Little-Known Provision. This Bill Seeks To Repeal It.

The bill, first obtained by HuffPost, takes aim at a law allowing visa holders and legal residents to be deported if the secretary of state thinks they're a foreign policy threat.

House Democrats introduced a bill on Tuesday that would repeal a little-known provision in immigration law that the Trump administration keeps citing as reason to deport visa holders and legal permanent residents whose speech does not align with the White House.

HuffPost first obtained a copy of the Land of the Free Act, introduced by Reps. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Becca Balint (D-Vt.). The bill takes aim at the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 — specifically, a once rarely used provision that allows for noncitizens to be deported if the secretary of state believes their presence in the U.S. is a foreign policy threat.

“It might be more than 300 at this point,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in March. “We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.”

Before this Trump administration, officials only invoked the provision 15 times over the past 35 years, with only four cases resulting in deportation. But with Rubio stretching his power to detain and deport foreign students who express pro-Palestinian views, the new bill aims to make it harder for the administration to weaponize someone’s immigration status to stifle political speech.

“Since day one, the Trump administration has continually violated the constitutionally protected free speech rights of immigrants in this country,” Ross told HuffPost. “We cannot let this corrupt administration go unchecked and undeterred. … The freedom of speech is a foundational principle of our democracy, and I urge my colleagues to join us in this important fight to protect it.”