HR4959-119

What This Bill Does

The Land of the Free Act repeals section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That provision is the foreign-policy deportability ground connected to whether a noncitizen's presence or activities would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences. Repealing it narrows the government's ability to rely on that ground in removal cases, especially where speech, belief, association, or foreign-policy controversy is at issue. The bill does not create a new immigration status; it removes a statutory basis for deportability and therefore shifts risk away from noncitizens targeted under that ground and toward immigration and foreign-policy officials who would otherwise use it.

Who Benefits and How

Noncitizen speakers benefit because a foreign-policy deportability ground connected to speech and association concerns would be removed. Immigrant rights attorneys benefit because one statutory basis for removal would no longer be available to the government. Campus advocacy organizations benefit when noncitizen students or scholars face less removal risk for foreign-policy-related speech. Civil liberties organizations benefit from a clearer statutory limit on deportation theories tied to protected expression.

Who Bears the Burden and How

DHS removal attorneys must stop relying on section 237(a)(4)(C) in removal cases. State Department foreign policy officials lose a deportability tool connected to adverse foreign policy consequences. Immigration judges must treat the repealed ground as unavailable after enactment. Foreign policy hawks bear reduced leverage to seek removal based on controversial speech or association.

Key Provisions

• Repeals section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• Narrows deportability authority tied to foreign-policy consequences.
• Protects noncitizens facing removal theories connected to speech, belief, or association.
• Requires immigration officials to proceed without that statutory removal ground.