Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article examining the Department of Justice’s shift in resources to prosecuting more immigration law violators. According to the article, the number of federal immigration prosecutions rose to over 70,000 last year. The focus has created two negative changes at the Department of Justice. First, the focus on immigration prosecution has caused a diminished number of federal prosecutions of other crimes over the last five years, including white collar crime prosecutions (down 18%), weapons prosecutions (down 19%), organized crime prosecutions (down 20%), drug prosecutions (down 20%), and public corruption prosecutions (down 14%). Second, the focus on immigration prosecutions has caused a drop in morale at the Justice Department because the Assistant U.S. Attorneys are stuck doing low-level immigration prosecutions and do not get significant exposure to more intriguing prosecutions, such as prosecuting international crimes and drug trafficking syndicates.
It all goes back to the simple truth – you cannot get everything you want and must focus on your priorities. What are the Department of Justice’s priorities? What should those priorities be?