Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Joe Courtney are proposing a law that would crack down on countries that refuse or delay U.S. officials' attempts to deport dangerous criminals.
The Connecticut Democrats were in Hartford on Monday morning to unveil "Casey's Law," which is named after Casey Chadwick, a 25-year-old Norwich woman who died after Haitian national Jean Jacques stabbed her last year.
Jacques is serving a 60-year prison sentence.
Federal authorities had tried repeatedly to deport Jacques, but Haiti officials wouldn't take him back after he served 17 years behind bars for a 1997 attempted murder conviction.
Chadwick was killed six months after Jacques was released from prison.
Her mother, Wendy Harding, stood by the lawmaker's side and gave support to the legislation.
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"I know she's looking down now at me. She's very very proud and I miss her with all my heart, every second of every day but I am also here to fight for her in any way that I can," Hardin said.
Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Courtney credit Hartling with publicizing the issue of the failure to deport and said that over the last four years more than 8,000 criminals who were supposed to be deported weren't.
A federal report released last month said immigration officials could have done more to deport Jacques.
The Remedies for Refusal of Repatriation Act bill would require that the Department of Homeland Security establish procedures to determine whether a foreign country "systematically and unreasonably refuses or delays the repatriation of nationals who are in the United States, and have been convicted of a felony or crime of violence, or are a threat to national security or public safety," according to a news release from Blumenthal's office.
Once it has been established that a country meets this criteria, DHS and the State Department would then notify their government that the United States may deny visas to their citizens.
DHS and the State Department would also publish the information on their website.
The legislation also requires an annual report to Congress identifying those countries that systematically refuse or delay repatriation of its citizens and describing the actions taken by those agencies in response.
