For Immediate Release
May 14, 2012
Washington D.C. - Today, the Immigration Policy Center releases Falling Through the Cracks: How Gaps in ICE's Prosecutorial Discretion Policy Affect Immigrants Without Legal Representation by Joan Friedland.
While the Obama administration has expanded use of prosecutorial discretion in immigration cases, the subject of immigrants without legal representation and their ability to access this discretion remains unresolved. In 2011, nearly half of all immigrants in removal proceedings appeared “pro se,” or without legal representation. While immigration attorneys can explain the effect of these policies to their clients, pro se immigrants may be unaware that new policies are even in effect. Immigrant advocates have thus been rightly concerned about whether pro se immigrants in removal proceedings will benefit from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) prosecutorial discretion policies.
This paper lays out what immigration authorities can do to ensure that pro se immigrants understand what prosecutorial discretion is, how they can seek it, and what they should do after receiving (or not receiving) an offer of it.
To view the paper in its entirety see:
- Falling Through The Cracks: How Gaps in ICE's Prosecutorial Discretion Policy Affect Immigrants Without Legal Representation by Joan Friedland. (IPC Perspectives, May, 2012)
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For more information contact Wendy Sefsaf at wsefsaf@immcouncil.org or 202-507-7524
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC), established in 2003, is the policy arm of the American Immigration Council. IPC's mission is to shape a rational conversation on immigration and immigrant integration. Through its research and analysis, IPC provides policymakers, the media, and the general public with accurate information about the role of immigrants and immigration policy on U.S. society. IPC reports and materials are widely disseminated and relied upon by press and policy makers. IPC staff regularly serves as experts to leaders on Capitol Hill, opinion-makers and the media. IPC is a non-partisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for office.
Division of the American Immigration Council.