Immigration Article of the Day: The Sanctuary of Prosecutorial Nullification by Zohra Ahmed, Albany Law Review

The Sanctuary of Prosecutorial Nullification by Zohra Ahmed, Albany Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 1, 2020

Abstract

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the shortcomings of existing sanctuary protections came sharply into focus. Historically, cities enacted sanctuary protections to extricate their law enforcement agencies from activities related to federal immigration enforcement. In sanctuary cities, local government agencies are typically restricted from sharing information with federal immigration authorities or from cooperating in apprehending individuals targeted for removal. After the White House issued an Executive Order (EO) in late January 2017, many immigrant rights advocates recognized that external facing policies that proscribed direct cooperation would not suffice. The EO announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would prioritize removing any undocumented person charged or convicted of a crime, no matter how serious. Recognizing the vital role state criminal courts play and would continue to play in fueling deportations, public defenders in New York City identified a new actor with the power to enact stronger protections: the prosecutor. This Article examines the role local prosecutors can play to isolate cities and states from the federal immigration enforcement regime, by describing a campaign launched days after the January 25, 2017 EO’s promulgation. The campaign offers a case study to explore the advantages of asking prosecutors to nullify low-level offenses to create broader sanctuary protections.

KJ