4:50 pm: Guidelines for immigration prosecutions

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 22, 2007

(AP) - A Justice Department memo released amid the furor over dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys describes guidelines for prosecuting people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Names of the two Texas border districts are redacted; one is based in San Antonio and the other is based in Houston. Excerpts:

_TEXAS (Houston or San Antonio): Prosecutes for illegal entry after six to eight apprehensions by the Border Patrol. Exceptions are made for people with criminal convictions in the U.S.

_TEXAS (Houston or San Antonio): Prosecutes after seven failed attempts. Exceptions are made for anyone with criminal convictions in the U.S. and other circumstances, such as resisting arrest or behaving aggressively.

_CALIFORNIA (San Diego): Does not prosecute "purely economic migrants" as a general rule and does not use the number of apprehensions as a guide. Focuses on people with "substantial criminal histories."

_ARIZONA (Phoenix): Does not have a litmus for the number of crossing before prosecution but would almost certainly decline first- or second-time offenders unless there were "aggravating circumstances."

_NEW MEXICO (Albuquerque): "The decision to accept or decline a re-entry case will be largely determined by the defendant's criminal history in the United States."


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