Anna Bieganowska

Howard High School

2015
Primary Data Analysis
The data suggests that notification requests have the potential to significantly increase the
proportion of those convicted of violent or serious crimes and who are a threat to national
security as opposed to the prior Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer-based system. A
notification-based system, proposed in the November 20, 2014 Immigration Accountability
Executive Action, assists ICE in prioritizing these immigrant groups because it creates more
clarity in enforcement priorities and action and increases accuracy through heightened oversight
of immigration officers. Among the seven documents analyzed, most were memoranda,
enforcement policy, or forms embedded in immigration law or the enforcement process; the first
three pertained to notification requests and the latter to detainer requests alone. The main
difference between the information concerning notification and detainer requests were that
enforcement priorities under notification requests were more specific and oriented toward
criminals. Level 1 priorities under the notification-request-based system, for example, consisted
of terrorist, border, gang, or aggravated felony crimes while Level 1 under detainers included all
immigrants convicted of or even charged with a crime. Terminology for what constituted
prioritized groups, such as recent re-entry defined as since January 1, 2014, was more detailed
and exceptions for groups that should not be treated as in the priorities, including vulnerable
groups and those with minor immigration or traffic violations as their only crime, was explicit
when describing on whom notification requests should be applied. Compared to broad categories
of immigration violations and other fugitives being treated as equal but lower priorities in
the detainer-based system, notification requests are more preventative of injustice and improper

use of resources. There are more checks on immigration enforcement under notification requests
as the nature of the process dictates more accountability for ICE. Detainers can only be issued
with a final order of removal or proof of probable cause if notification requests become standard
procedure. Other instances in which more initiation of action was required from immigration law
enforcement include how non-priority cases need review by the Office Director to transfer a nonpriority immigrant and how ICE is mandated to grant deferred action for pending cases if
applicable as opposed to when, under detainers, criminal justice agencies were more involved in
deciding which individuals were essentially handed over to ICE. In addition to these changes in
policy from the older detainer-based system, there are more provisions for oversight of
enforcement activities from other agencies that lends itself to a more efficient and just process.
The overall process and room for discretion in officers decisions remains relatively unaltered
from detainer to notification requests. Across documents, both kinds of systems offer
prosecutorial discretion to not extend the full scope of enforcement on a case-by-case basis but
it is not a basic right nor guaranteed; enforcement priorities also lack authority to as they cannot
prohibit a removal of any immigrant, be they a threat or not, found out of good status in the
United States. These similarities, however, are necessary to some extent to prevent a cookiecutter system that does not account for the human aspect that should exist in immigration law.
More research should be done to answer questions concerning how notification requests are
implemented in practice compared to detainers and how the nature of detainers has changed over
time to cause inefficient enforcement that does not prioritize ICEs limited resources. Overall,
notification requests are seen to benefit immigration law enforcement in removing threats to
national security and public safety as it increases accountability to follow clear priorities with
provisions for oversight to better ensure accuracy in those priorities implementation.