Earlier this week, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released a report titled “New York City: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies.” The gist of the report is that DAs throughout the city have a habit of downcharging crimes to make sure that the individuals being charged don’t get deported.
Today, several of those DAs and AG Letitia James gave a press conference about some gun seizures and were asked about the report. Suddenly, none of them had anything to say.
From the NY Post:
The attorneys — state AG Letitia James, and city District Attorneys Melinda Katz and Eric Gonzalez — stared blank-faced when asked by The Post about the damning report at a Thursday gun-safety press conference.
“Did any of you order prosecutors to downgrade gun charges to keep illegal immigrants in the US, per the Judiciary Committee report the recent house judiciary report?” a reporter asked, explaining the report could clearly indicate a gun-safety issue.
But the attorneys merely smiled and blinked — with Katz even throwing her hands up in a shrug.
It’s odd that they have nothing to say because the report has been out since Monday and it’s all about them and their office policies. This is from the 22-page report:
- Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz employs an “Immigration Specialist” to help dangerous foreign nationals avoid immigration consequences for their criminality. Recognizing that “[a] broad range of criminal convictions may trigger severe immigration consequences” for criminal aliens, the Immigration Specialist “helps Assistant District Attorneys navigate through plea options and assist in framing dispositions that will prevent unwanted immigration consequences.”…
- Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has admitted that “consider[ing] any likely immigration consequences” is “appropriate” in cases involving foreign nationals. Bragg previously specified in a January 2022 memorandum that his office would “seek dispositions that avoid immigration consequences for all misdemeanors, and all felonies for which non-carceral outcomes are the presumptive outcome.” In correspondence to the Committee and Subcommittee, Bragg’s office described that policy as “outdated” and replaced by a policy that broadly directed assistant district attorneys “to apply their judgment on a case-by-case basis to achieve public safety and justice.”
- Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark requires prosecutors in her office to consider “immigration” along with a “broad range of other potential collateral consequences when initiating a prosecution.” She has even boasted that her office agreed to dozens of requests “to re-plead to an alternative crime, primarily due to immigration concerns.”
- Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced nearly a decade ago that his office was “implementing a new policy aimed at minimizing collateral immigration consequences of criminal convictions, particularly for misdemeanor and other low-level offenses.” At that time, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office “hired two immigration attorneys to train all staff on immigration issues and to advise prosecutors when making plea offers and sentencing recommendations on cases of non-citizen defendants in an effort to avoid disproportionate collateral consequences, such as deportation, while maintaining public safety.” To achieve “an immigration-neutral disposition,” Gonzalez directed prosecutors to “consider alternative offenses the defendant can plead to as well as reasonable modifications to the sentence recommendation,” even suggesting that a criminal alien be offered “a plea for a lesser offense in light of the disproportionate immigration consequences a higher level offense may result in.” Gonzalez has boasted that his policy has resulted in reaching “plea deals with immigrant defendants that allowed them to avoid deportation.”
- Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon established an Immigrant Affairs and Collateral Consequences Unit to advise prosecutors “on cases with collateral consequences” to ensure that criminal aliens can avoid deportation. This work includes drafting motions related to “immigration collateral consequence[s] and pardon requests” and even “[c]ontacting [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to postpone removal proceedings against defendants, witnesses, and victims for the interest of justice.”
