Prosecutorial Discretion Appears to Be Working

The Immigration Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) released its year end removal numbers.  There were 409,849 people who were deported.  According to the ICE press release, “approximately 55 percent, or 225,390 of the people removed, were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors – almost double the removal of criminals in FY 2008.val numbers for fiscal year 2012.”  A lot of Republicans have criticized President Obama’s program for providing deferred action for DREAMers and other efforts at exercising prosecutorial discretion in enforcing immigration laws because they view him as not enforcing the immigration laws.  However, what President Obama is doing is prioritizing the limited resources of the ICE.  As a result of this prioritization, the Obama administration has deported double the number of non-citizens with criminal history from 2008.   Based upon these statistics, it would seem that President Obama’s plan is working.  By exercising prosecutorial discretion in non-priority cases, the ICE is able to focus on priority cases involving immigrants with criminal history.