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flexibility to decline to bring a particular charge based on a “good faith doubt” that the law or evidence supports the charge.

2. Department Policy Relating to Deportation of Criminal Aliens

On April 28, 1995, the Attorney General issued a memorandum to all federal prosecutors entitled “Deportation of Criminal Aliens,” directing federal prosecutors to actively and directly become involved in the process of removing criminal aliens from the United States. In pertinent part, this memorandum notes that prosecutors can make a major contribution to the expeditious deportation of criminal aliens by effectively using available prosecution tools for dealing with alien defendants. These tools include (1) stipulated administrative deportation orders in connection with plea agreements; (2) deportation as a condition of supervised release under 18 U.S.C. § 3853(d); and (3) judicial deportation orders pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252a(d). The memorandum further directs:

All deportable criminal aliens should be deported unless extraordinary circumstances exist. Accordingly, absent such circumstances, Federal prosecutors should seek the deportation of deportable alien defendants in whatever manner is deemed most appropriate in a particular case. Exceptions to this policy must have the written approval of the United States Attorney.

See also USAM § 9-73.520. A “criminal alien” is a foreign national who has been convicted of a crime.196

Stipulated administrative deportation orders can be based “on the conviction for an offense to which the alien will plead guilty,” provided that the offense is one of those enumerated in 8 U.S.C. § 1251 as an offense that causes an alien to be deported. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2)(A)(i), any alien who is convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude” within five years after the date of entry (or 10 years in the case of an alien provided lawful permanent resident status), and is either sentenced to confinement or confined to prison for one year or longer, is deportable.

C. Case Law

1. Prosecutorial Discretion

On many occasions, the Supreme Court has discussed the breadth of the prosecutor’s discretion in deciding whether and whom to prosecute. In Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357 (1978), the Court considered the propriety of a prosecutor’s threat during plea negotiations to seek more serious charges against the accused if the accused did not plead guilty to the offense originally charged. The defendant, Hayes, opted not to plead guilty to the original offense, and

196 According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “The term ‘criminal alien’ refers to aliens who have been convicted of one or more crimes, whether in the United States or abroad, prior to interdiction by the U.S. Border Patrol.” See U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Enforcement Statistics, Criminal Alien Statistics Fiscal Year 2020, available at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/criminal-alien-statistics.

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