APNewsBreak: Border prosecutions to be restored
Oct 4, 2013, 4:15 AM
SAN DIEGO (AP) – The top federal prosecutor in San Diego says prosecutions of immigrant and drug smuggling offenses will be fully restored Friday, three days after they were curtailed in response to the federal government shutdown.
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said late Thursday that prosecutions would return to normal after the Justice Department agreed restore staff.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that Duffy’s office issued guidelines that immigrant smuggling cases would only be prosecuted only if they involved death or serious injury. The felony offense of re-entering the country after deportation was accepted for prosecution only for suspects previously convicted of a violent crime.
The guidelines were strengthened on Wednesday.
The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because the guidelines are not public.
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