More than two years into the Obama Administration, it is still unclear whether President Obama’s immigration agenda will ultimately be remembered as an enforcement-driven enterprise, or one that uses the full force of executive branch authority to improve our badly broken system. The following resources discuss how the Administration can and should use executive authority and prosecutorial discretion to prioritize DHS's enforcement efforts on removing persons who are most dangerous to the country.
Deferred Action for DREAMers:
- Who and Where the DREAMers Are: Revised Estimates [1] (October 2012)
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Q&A [2] (August 2012)
- Who and Where the DREAMers Are [3] (August 2012)
- Social Security Guidance for DACA Recipients [4] (September 2012)
- DHS announces Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [5] (June 2012)
- Read IPC's Q&A Guide on Deferred Action for Immigrant Youth [6] (June 2012)
- Listen [7] to experts discuss and explain Obama's annoucement on Deferred Action for immigrant youth (June 21, 2012)
- Read USCIS's FAQ Deferred Action [8] for Immigrant Youth (June 2012)
- Read the Council's explanation [9] and statement [10] on DHS's deferred action announcement (June 2012)
- Read blog posts [11] on Obama administration's deferred action for DREAMers
- Read AILA's Consumer Advisory [12] for young immigrants in English and Spanish (June 2012)
Basic Facts on Prosecutorial Discretion:
- Read Economic Benefits of Granting Deferred Action to Unauthorized Immigrants Brought to U.S. as Youth [13] (june 2012)
- Read a basic fact sheet on Prosecutorial Discretion [14] (updated 06/29/11)
- Read The Morton Memo and Prosecutorial Discretion: An Overview [15] (July 2011)
- Read a statement on why President Obama should use executive power [16] (April 2011)
- Read a Statistical Analysis of Prosecutorial Discretion [17] (June 2012)
Previous Memos on Prosecutorial Discretion:
- Read an ICE Memo [18] outlining when and how ICE officials should use prosecutorial discretion during immigration cases (June 17, 2011)
- Read another ICE Memo [19] guiding ICE officials on prosecutorial discretion in cases of victims of crimes, witnesses to crime and individuals pursuing legitimate civil rights complaints (June 17, 2011)
DHS Review of Immigration Cases:
- Read Crunching—and Clarifying—the Numbers on Prosecutorial Discretion [20] (March 2012)
- Read DHS Begins Review of Deportation Cases, Issues Awaited Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines [21] (November 2012)
- Read Prosecutorial Discretion Survey Demonstrates Need for More Training, Consistency Across ICE Field Offices [22] (November 2011)
- Read Some Hopeful, Early Signs That Prosecutorial Discretion Is Being Exercised [23] (August 2011)
Legal Experts Weigh In:
- Immigration Lawyers Clarify What DHS’s Announcement on Prosecutorial Discretion IS and IS NOT [24] (August 2011)
- Read Legal Experts Comments on Recent ICE Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion [25] (July 19, 2011)
- Read Legal Experts Weigh in on Executive Branch Authority [26] (May 2011)
- Read a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano [27] urging a robust policy on prosecutorial discretion as well as a prioritization of enforcement resources (March 2011)
- Read this Practice Advisory [28] on how attorneys can advocate for their clients based on Morton's June 17th prosecutorial discertion memo
Consequences of Eliminating Discretion:
- Read Dissecting the HALT Act: The Impact of Eliminating Discretion from Our Immigration System [29] (July 25, 2011)
- Read Expert's comments on How the HALT Act Attacks the Last Safety Valves in our Immigration System [30] (July 25, 2011)
Additional Background:
- Read about DHS's recent announcement [31] to put existing guidelines in place across the agency to ensure that its enforcement priorities are focused on high priority immigration cases (August 18, 2011)
- Listen to immigration experts discuss the prosecutorial discretion guidelines:
- Read about how DHS's prosecutorial discretion guidelines may provide temporary relief to gay and lesbian [32] bi-national couples (August 19, 2011)
- Read Second Annual DHS Progress Report : An Analysis of Immigration Policy in the Second Year of the Obama Administration [33] (April 2011)
- Listen to the Telebriefing [34]
- Read the First DHS Progress Report [35] (March 2010)
Relevant Other Blog Posts:
Published On: Tue, Apr 19, 2011