Challenges of Return After Deportation

Individuals deported from the United States face enormous legal and practical barriers to being able to return and rejoin their families and communities in the future. These barriers often convert deportation into a prolonged, if not lifetime, exile from the United States. This report provides an overview of the significant—often impossible—hurdles faced by deported individuals who seek return to the United States under the current legal regime and offers administrative and legislative policy recommendations to reduce these barriers and allow unjustly or wrongfully deported individuals to return home.