Professor Wadhia to speak on panel hosted by Chicago Bar Association

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Law professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia will sit on a panel on Oct. 8 in Chicago to discuss her book Beyond Deportation: The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Cases and the broader topic of prosecutorial discretion in the immigration context. The program is hosted by The Chicago Bar Association, The Chicago Bar Foundation, and the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Panelists will discuss the role of prosecutorial discretion in the U.S. immigration system and the powerful role it plays in protecting individuals from deportation and saving government resources.

As the charitable arm of the Chicago Bar Association, The Chicago Bar Foundation brings the legal community together to improve access to justice for people in need and make the legal system more fair and efficient for everyone.  The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)  provides direct legal services to, and advocates for, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education. Since its founding three decades ago, NIJC has been unique in blending individual client advocacy with broad-based systemic change.

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.