------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION On
November 17, 2011 Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of the
Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) issued a memorandum to announce its review of
incoming and pending cases in Immigration Court. Each Office of Chief
Counsel (OCC) is directed to review (1) all the cases that do not have a Notice
to Appear filed with the court; (2) all cases currently on the master docket;
and (3) all cases scheduled in the next seven months for an Individual
Hearing. The attorneys conducting the case-by-case review must apply the
criteria from the June 17,
2011prosecutorial
discretion memorandum and other cited references, to decide
whether proceedings in immigration court will go forward or be administratively
closed. In addition, there is a process that each OCC must establish to review
the cases. We want to alert you to resources on prosecutorial discrtion
available through the Immigration Advocates Network (IAN), our partners, and
other advocates.
On Immigration Advocates Network:
The "Library" contains:
The November 17, 2011
Memorandum from Peter S. Vincent, ICE Principal Legal Advisor, on the review of
incoming and pending immigration court cases at http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/link.cfm?18648.
An additional document from the ICE website, stating that all jurisdictions
will review the incoming cases, but initially only the pilot project locations,
Baltimore and Denver, will review all the pending cases, at http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/link.cfm?18649.
The June 17, 2011 ICE Memorandum by Director John Morton identifying which
agency employees may exercise prosecutorial discretion and what factors should
be considered at http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/link.cfm?18650.
An American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and American Immigration
Council (AIC) report based on a survey of prosecutorial discretion policies at
each of the local district offices of ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations
(ERO), or Offices of Chief Counsel (OCC). [Note that this survey began shortly
after the ICE Director's June 17, 2011 Memorandum and was released the week
before the ICE Legal Advisor's November 17, 2011 Memorandum.] http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/link.cfm?18651
The "News" Contains:
A November 17, 2011 New York Times article about ICE's announcement that it
will review incoming and pending immigration court cases for administrative
closure of some, and expedition of others, at http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/link.cfm?18652.
Executive Office for Immigration Review
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued a press release
November 17, 2011 announcing the courts' readiness to receive motions from
government attorneys to terminate or administratively close proceedings and a
pilot program in the Baltimore and Denver immigration courts to reschedule
non-detained cases so that government attorneys have time to review them
at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/press/2011/EOIRProsecutorialDiscretion11172011.htm.
