Professor Wadhia to speak in D.C. at Justice Department and ACLU

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Law professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia will deliver two talks on Sept. 28 in Washington, D.C., on her book Beyond Deportation: The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Cases.

She will discuss U.S. immigration law and policy with some of the federal government’s top immigration litigators at noon at the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation. Later that day she will join Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel, for a book discussion talk at 3:30 p.m. at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office.

The Office of Immigration Litigation oversees all civil immigration litigation, both affirmative and defensive, and is responsible for coordinating national immigration matters before the federal district courts and circuit courts of appeals. It provides support and counsel to all federal agencies involved in noncitizen admission, regulation, and removal under U.S. immigration and nationality statutes. Office of Immigration Litigation attorneys also work closely with United States Attorneys' Offices on immigration cases.

For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. With more than a million members, activists, and supporters, the ACLU is a nationwide organization that litigates in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.

Beyond Deportation, published by New York University Press, 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. 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.

Wadhia, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Penn State Law, is an expert on immigration law and one of the nation’s leading scholars on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law. Her scholarship in this area has served as a foundation for scholars, advocates, and government officials seeking to understand or design a strong prosecutorial discretion policy. Her work identifies the historical role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law, the extent to which some acts of discretion operate as a benefit, and the dynamic role and need for transparency, sound procedures, and accountability.