John Morton's Prosecutorial Roll Call! (a relic from the past)
- 8/16/2011 - California - Raul S. - Married to Peter while same-sex marriage was legal in CA. Green card was not renewed. ICE agrees to administratively close removal proceedings while status of DOMA is settled. Morton memo cited. (link)
- 8/13/2011 - California - Alex B. - Married to Doug while same-sex marriage was legal in CA. ICE drops prosecution. Morton memo cited. (link)
- 8/18/2011 - Florida - Manuel G. - 27 y.o. Dream Act-eligible community leader who led a march to Washington. Asylum case mishandled by notario. ICE cancels deportation. (link)
- 8/23/2011 - Georgia - Pedro M. - 19 y.o. Dream Act-eligible student detained in traffic stop and held at Stewart Detention center, was released. ICE dismisses case. (link)
- 8/23/2011 - Georgia - Luis "Ricky" H. - 18 y.o. Dream Act-eligible high school soccer player detained in traffic stop and held at Stewart Detention Center, was release. ICE dismisses case. (link)
- 8/30/2011 - California - Jose Humberto - Grandfather and legal guardian of a U.S. citizen teenager with leukemia was released from custody & granted 1-year deferred action. (link)
- 8/30/2011 - California - Hilda Jauregui - Grandmother and legal guardian of a U.S. citizen teenager with leukemia was released from custody & granted 1-year deferred action. (link)
- 8/30/2011 - California - Lili Jauregui - Mother of U.S. citizen teenager with leukemia was released from custody & granted 1-year deferred action. (link)
On June 17, 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton released a memo titled Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion Consistent with the Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities of the Agency for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Aliens.
On August 18, 2011, the White House website posted Immigration Update: Maximizing Public Safety and Better Focusing Public Resources. The policy announcement can be boiled down to the follow quote:
Today, [the Department of Homeland Security] announced that they are strengthening their ability to target criminals even further by making sure they are not focusing our resources on deporting people who are low priorities for deportation. This includes individuals such as young people who were brought to this country as small children, and who know no other home. It also includes individuals such as military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel. It makes no sense to spend our enforcement resources on these low-priority cases when they could be used with more impact on others, including individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes.
So DHS, along with the Department of Justice, will be reviewing the current deportation caseload to clear out low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make more room to deport people who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk. And they will take steps to keep low-priority cases out of the deportation pipeline in the first place.
The announcement went on to cite the Morton Memo as the guidelines that DHS will be using to determine what cases are low-priority or high-priority.
What does this announcement mean? Anything? Is ICE going to begin dropping cases instead of deporting people? Is it just empty rhetoric design to recapture a disillusioned Latino base in the year before the election?
Enter John Morton's Prosecutorial Roll Call...
Stay tuned for a list of any and every bit of evidence ICE Raid Report can find to show that Obama is following his proclaimed policy of prioritizing certain cases over other, declining to pursue certain deportation proceedings. So far, there's nothing to show for it. If you hear of anything, leave a comment on the latest article, or tweet @ICE_Raid_Report.
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