The Limits of Discretion: Challenges and Dilemmas of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Enforcement Marjorie S. Zatz and Nancy Rodriguez Arizona State University Running Head: Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Enforcement Contact: Marjorie S. Zatz, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University, PO Box 874902, Tempe AZ 85287-4902. Tel: 480-965-6897. Fax: 480-965-9199.
[email protected] Marjorie S. Zatz is professor of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University, and director of the Law and Social Sciences program at the National Science Foundation (
[email protected]). Nancy Rodriguez is professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University and Associate Dean of the College of Public Programs (Nancy.
[email protected]). This material is based in part upon work while the first author was serving at the National Science Foundation. The research was determined to be exempt after review by Arizona State University’s Institutional Review Board, under protocol #1201007287. The authors thank Kif Augustine- Adams, Jamie Longazel, David A. Martin, Luis Plascencia, Doris Marie Provine, Susan Sterett, and the LSI reviewers for helpful comments. THE LIMITS OF DISCRETION: CHALLENGES AND DILEMMAS OF PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ABSTRACT The history of US immigration policy and practice reflects a series of attempts to address complex political demands and organizational tensions. Yet this complexity has rendered comprehensive immigration reform elusive in recent decades. When legislative action appears impossible, what other avenues are available to confront these challenges? During the first term of the Obama administration, prosecutorial discretion emerged as a key mechanism.