For the Defense - Volume 1, Issue 3 - 2016 - 23

in the aggravated felony determination. Keeping in mind that a misdemeanant can be an individual convicted of any one of several nonviolent crimes graded as a misdemeanor in state court and that there are numerous offenses defined as an aggravated felony under the INA, the statistics released by ICE do not necessarily support the position that ICE is successfully removing dangerous noncitizens. For example, the statistics released by ICE do not reveal what percentage of the convicted criminals within Priority 1 are nonviolent offenders charged with an aggravated felony under the INA. The statistics also do not show what percentage of convicted criminals in Priority 2 are nonviolent offenders with convictions for crimes such as driving offenses or theft. The data published by ICE should also be weighed against the data that demonstrates the negative societal impact of indiscriminate and aggressive deportation policies. For instance, in 2013, ICE deported approximately 72,000 parents of US-citizen children.8 The Urban Institute and Migration Police Institute compiled research and prepared a joint report in 2015 informing that it is possible that more than half a million children experienced parental deportation in recent years. There were 180,000 children affected by parental deportation annually in 2011 and 2012 alone, and 140,000 in 2013.9 A report by the Applied Research Center (ARC) in 2011 estimated that there are at least 5,100 children currently living in foster care across the country whose parents have either been detained or deported.10 ARC's 2011 report also states that in counties where local police have agreements with ICE, children in foster care were about 29 percent more likely to have a detained or deported parent than in other counties.11 As a consequence of being left behind in either a foster or single parent home, the children of a deported parent are more likely to have an increased reliance on federal public benefits. The resources of each individual state are also unnecessarily drained when families are forced into economic distress after an income-earning parent is deported. This common and unjust outcome resulting from a nonviolent criminal conviction by a U.S. born child's parent should be the narrative that introduces the more broad interpretation of the Padilla decision that demands institutional changes from prosecutors. Padilla for Prosecutors "The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America." - Robert H. Jackson, United States Attorney General, April 1, 194012 Legal scholars have acknowledged the practical importance of the role of the prosecutor in the plea bargaining process that was discussed in the Padilla decision. In her 2012 Georgetown Law Journal article, Heidi Altman presents a compelling argument in support of the position that the Vol. 1, Issue 3 | For The Defense 23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Volume 1, Issue 3 - 2016