The first book to comprehensively
describe the history, theory, and application of prosecutorial discretion in
immigration law

When Beatles star John Lennon faced deportation from the U.S. in the 1970s, his lawyer Leon Wildes made a groundbreaking argument. He argued that Lennon should be granted “nonpriority” status pursuant to INS’s (now DHS’s) policy of prosecutorial discretion. In U.S. immigration law, the agency exercises prosecutorial discretion favorably when it refrains from enforcing the full scope of immigration law. A prosecutorial discretion grant is important to an agency seeking to focus its priorities on the “truly dangerous” in order to conserve resources and to bring compassion into immigration enforcement. The Lennon case marked the first moment that the immigration agency’s prosecutorial discretion policy became public knowledge. Today, the concept of prosecutorial discretion is more widely known in light of the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, a record number of deportations and a stalemate in Congress to move immigration reform.
Beyond Deportation is the first book to comprehensively describe the history, theory, and application of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law. It provides a rich history of the role of prosecutorial discretion in the immigration system and unveils the powerful role it plays in protecting individuals from deportation and saving the government resources. Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia draws on her years of experience as an immigration attorney, policy leader, and law professor to advocate for a bolder standard on prosecutorial discretion, greater mechanisms for accountability when such standards are ignored, improved transparency about the cases involving prosecutorial discretion, and recognition of “deferred action” in the law as a formal benefit.

"This timely review of immigration prosecutorial discretion will be very valuable to those interested in immigration law. Wadhia gives a detailed description of the different forms such discretion can take, with a particular emphasis on deferred action, including President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).The book is an essential resource for researchers wishing to study deferred action prior to and immediately after the introduction of DACA. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - Choice

"The book examines how prosecutorial discretion interacts with the resource constraints of government agencies alongside immigrants humanitarian circumstances. It expands understandings of how 'deferred action,' a significant form of prosecutorial discretions, is employed by non-citizens as a protective tool from deportation." - International Migration Review

"WithBeyond Deportation, Wadhia has simultaneously created a short, accessible, and comprehensive primer on prosecutorial discretion in immigration while raising profound questions on the usage and evolution of this tool into one that is more transparent, humanitarian, and just." - Border Criminologies