ICE Director Morton issues prosecutorial discretion memo narrowing enforcement targets

ICE Director John Morton issued two memoranda on June 17, 2011, directing ICE attorneys and agents to deprioritize enforcement against immigrants with strong community ties, educational enrollment, military service, or no criminal record. Morton instructed ICE to focus limited resources on people posing threats to national security or public safety and to exercise discretion when encountering crime victims, witnesses, and plaintiffs in civil rights suits. The memos built on earlier guidelines but went further by explicitly telling agents not to pursue certain removable non-citizens.