More Low-Level Immigration Charges Approved by New DOJ Memo (1)

The Justice Department is now permitting prosecutors to charge undocumented immigrants with lower-level offenses for evading immigration officers when they’re arrested outside the district they initially entered, overturning a nearly half-century policy prohibiting this practice.

The legal analysis, published Wednesday by DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, argues that the criminal charge of eluding inspection by immigration officers is a continuing offense that would allow prosecutors to bring charges in the non-border district of apprehension.

The memo, written by senior OLC official M. Scott Proctor, would expand the pool of people who could face federal misdemeanor charges to include those ...