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c r e t i o n? Dis

L aw enforcement officers are supposed to enforce the law. But in enforcing the
law, officers have a lot of choice. Right now, this officer has a choice to make: arrest the robber or the jornaleros? In making that choice, the officer is using prosecutorial discretion.

P rosecutorial discretion can also be

used after an arrest. For example, the District Attorney might not have time to prosecute all his cases. So he may drop the misdemeanors and just focus on the violent felonies.

P rosecutorial discretion also applies in immigration. Even ICE admits that is not

possible or desirable to deport everyone. So, like the police, ICE officers have to make choices.

L ast June, ICE Director John Morton set a new policy to guide ICE officers in making

those choices. Morton told officers to focus on deporting high priority people and to set aside cases against low priority people.

H ere are the factors ICE says

make a person low priority: lived in the US for a long time (especially since childhood) very young or very old served in the US military pregnant or nursing a baby victim of a serious crime has a serious health problem takes care of a sick or disabled relative has very young children received a high school or college education in the US

Low Priority

HIGH RITY PRIO

PRIORITY

HIGH

PRIORITY

HIGH

HIGH PRIORITY

Here are the factors ICE says make a person high priority: Poses a risk to national security Has a criminal record. Even misdemeanor convictions can make a person high priority! Member of a gang Poses a clear danger to public safety Returned to the US illegally after being deported or has engaged in immigration fraud

HIGH Priority

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I CE also has a special prosecutorial discretion policy for civil rights leaders. ICE is not

supposed to arrest or deport people who are in the middle of a struggle to protect their civil or labor rights.

P rosecutorial discretion does not guarantee anyone legal status. Everything is

discretionary

?
B ut there have

of 400,000 deportations per year. ICE is going to have to make a decision. Abandon its quota or abandon prosecutorial discretion? So far, ICE hasnt done much to implement its new prosecutorial discretion policy. So it is not clear what effect it will have.

I CEs new prosecutorial discretion policy conflicts with its quota

T he ICE union is protesting

the policy. It is refusing to allow ICE employees to attend trainings about the policy.

been some changes in immigration court. In Baltimore and Denver, ICE ran pilot projects for its new policy. ICE attorneys gave prosecutorial discretion to about 15% of the people who were facing deportation. They denied prosecutorial discretion to 85% of people. The 15% of people who got prosecutorial discretion still do not have legal status. But ICE is no longer actively trying to deport them.

N ow, ICE is supposed to expand

its pilot project to immigration courts across the whole country.

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I CEs new prosecutorial discretion policy provides a new tool for

immigrants in deportation proceedings and their allies to call on ICE to suspend their deportation.

W e need to take action to make sure ICE applies its new policy as broadly
as possible. Together, we can demand that ICE stop the deportations and the separation of families!

For more information about Prosecutorial Discretion and other Federal/Local immigration enforcement programs, please visit http:/ /altopolimigra.org.

What is Prosecutorial Discretion?

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