The Commonwealth’s Attorney in Democrat-run Arlington County, Virginia, instructed prosecutors to change the charges when a DUI conviction could prompt deportation of a migrant with DACA status.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, a Democrat, (pictured above) confirmed the practice in a closed-door deposition with the House Judiciary Committee in July which was published Monday in a 23-page report on the county’s sanctuary rules. Her office sent prosecutors a memo telling them to weigh DACA status and encouraging them to change a DUI charge to a different charge that will not cause the defendant to possibly lose their DACA status.
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is the 2012 program that shields roughly 750,000 illegal aliens brought to the country as children and hands them renewable work permits. It was started by former President Barack Obama via executive order and has been curbed — but not eliminated — by the courts.
Federal immigration officials consider a drunk driving conviction a significant misdemeanor that can cost illegal migrants their DACA status and leave them open to deportation.
In response, Dehghani-Tafti’s office offers the illegal alien a different misdemeanor of roughly equal weight — what it calls a lateral charge.
The committee says an American citizen charged with DUI cannot claim similar benefits.
Dehghani-Tafti told Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) the swap has come up three or four times that she can recall, and fewer than 10 times for certain. She said her office does not dismiss the case or necessarily reduce it, and will not let the defendant expunge the original charge.
Explaining what she means by a lateral charge, she said a first-degree misdemeanor would still be a first-degree misdemeanor on the record. (Actually, however, Virginia has no first-degree misdemeanors; the state sorts misdemeanors into Classes 1 through 4.) Drunk driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor, the most serious one.
