Quoted In Online Wall Street Journal about Prosecutorial Discretion

I had the privilege of being quoted by Miriam Jordan of the Wall Street Journal on November 18, 2011, in the online version about Prosecutorial Discretion.

Here is the online link, for those of you who have an online subscription:  Wall Street Journal

Here is the full text of the article: 

More Discretion In Deportations

By Miriam Jordan, 18 November 2011, The Wall Street Journal Online

The Obama administration said Thursday it would launch a training program for immigration agents and a review of all immigrant-removal cases, following criticism that it has failed to implement a policy designed to avoid deporting people who don’t have criminal records.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the immigration-enforcement unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said in an outline of the initiative that its “attorneys nationwide will review all incoming cases in immigration court.” The ICE said such a review would accelerate the removal of “criminal aliens and other priority cases” and prevent “new low priority cases” from clogging overburdened courts.

In August, the administration said it would review 300,000 deportation cases with the goal of allowing many of those people to stay in the U.S., drawing anger from immigration hard-liners and applause from Hispanic advocacy groups. Under that plan, federal authorities said, ICE attorneys would spare from removal immigrants who haven’t committed crimes and aren’t considered a threat to public safety. The plan would also limit the pursuit of low-priority cases.

Advocacy groups have said the approach has been applied unevenly, and that deporting law-abiding residents hurts families and is counterproductive. Last week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, or AILA, accused the government of failing to apply prosecutorial discretion in removals.

The ICE said Thursday that the case reviews and training were the next steps toward fostering discretion and ensuring uniform application.

As the 2012 election looms, President Barack Obama has faced attacks from both the left and the right on immigration. Foes of illegal immigration have accused the administration of offering “amnesty” to undocumented immigrants since unveiling the policy. “The Obama administration today has moved forward with its plan to implement backdoor amnesty through administrative action,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), a leading voice against legal residency for undocumented immigrants.

Those who favor more lenient immigration policies say that undocumented workers with a clean record are being arrested indiscriminately. Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Thursday’s move is “a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen how the plan will be interpreted and executed.”

“We welcome the review of cases before the immigration courts,” said John Manley, an immigration attorney and member of AILA. “The training program is an important first step in changing the culture at ICE and in encouraging its agents to use prosecutorial discretion.”