Published on Thu, Apr 24, 2014
The Latin Times recently cited the IPC report "Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law [1]" in an article titled "ICE Data Says Agency Rarely Uses ‘Prosecutorial Discretion’ To Close Cases Against Immigrants".
"The Immigration Policy Center notes [2] that discretion can be used at any stage of an immigration case, from the apprehension phase – when it comes to stopping, questioning and arresting particular people, focusing resources on certain violations or conduct, or detaining people already in police custody or under supervision – to referring cases to courts to begin deportation proceedings. In most of the country, it appears that authorities rarely practice such discretion after proceedings are already opened: between October 2012 and March 2014, the group reports, ICE intervened to close only 6.7 percent of cases they’d earlier referred to the courts. The percentage varied widely by region; in Tucson and Seattle, it was around 30 percent."
Published in the Latin Times