Being granted prosecutorial discretion means that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chose to stop actively pursuing your removal from the United States. Halting the pursuit of your removal could probably be due to the priorities of the current presidential administration or because of compelling circumstances in your own life or simply because ICE does not have enough resources to put you in detention and deport every undocumented immigrant it apprehends. Prosecutorial Discretion is a method of making sure that ICE can keep track of particular individuals without actively moving forward with deportation.
How is a Prosecutorial Discretion Appointment or Supervised Visit Best Described?
One of the usual conditions of a grant of PD is scheduled check-ins or supervised visits at an ICE office. Such appointments can be as often as monthly to as once per year. While at the appointment, you will meet with an immigration officer who will explain all the details of your case and review any new issues (such as arrests or new requests for immigration relief). ICE will come to a resolution as to whether to allow you to check in again at a later date and time or whether or not they intend to go ahead with your removal from the United States. While you might have no right to appeal a denial or discontinuation of prosecutorial discretion, you might be eligible for other forms of immigration relief if ICE indicates that it will pursue your deportation soon.
What Must Be Done If a Prosecutorial Discretion Appointment Has Been Scheduled For Me?
It is essential to remember that if you fail to appear for your PD check-in, you will be deemed a fugitive and will always be a target for immigration enforcement. If you are found, you will be arrested and considered a flight risk in the future. It can be very hard to live life as a fugitive.
ICE will usually not arrest foreign nationals at “protected locations” such as:
- Schools
- Churches and
- Hospitals
To determine what is safe, you should seek legal advice from an immigration attorney who can pilot you through the process and the risks involved in not attending your check-in. Your lawyer can also examine potential options for relief from deportation that might still be available or can help you reopen your immigration court case. Even if you have attended a supervised visit with ICE in the past, you might have a different experience this time due to the change in the administration’s priorities.
Secondly, if you prepare to attend your appointment, you should bring along evidence that you have been a law-abiding citizen since your last appointment and any other documentation showing that the continuation of PD is warranted due to favorable factors in your case. You can also consider traveling with a group of supportive individuals. In some cases, it is in your best interest to prove strong community support for one’s plea to stay in the U.S. For instance, an immigrant activist on an order of supervision held a peaceful demonstration outside of his PD appointment location and was allied to remain in the U.S. for the moment.
What Should You Do If You Have a Pending Immigration Court Case?
For anyone who is granted a PD in an immigration court, the immigration judge and ICE likely agreed to either administratively close your pending deportation case, dismiss it, or continue it (postpone to a later date). If ICE updates you at your PD appointment that it plans to move the court to reopen your case to pursue deportation, you should immediately contact an immigration attorney to discuss alternatives. Chances are you might have already applied for cancellation of removal or asylum or consider applying for certain types of deportation relief in the future.
What Must I Do If I Am Subjected to an Expedited Removal?
The previous presidential administration extended the class of immigrants that were subject to expedited removal. This may mean that if you entered without inspection into the U.S. and you have been present in the U.S. for less than two years, you could be ordered deported without the opportunity to stand before an immigration judge. If you overstayed your visa or the visa waiver program you could also be removed from the country without a court hearing. If you have been granted PD and fit one of these categories, it is important to seek help from an immigration law firm before you check in. Contact Gambacorta Law Office at 1-847-786-2599 for assistance