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INS MEMO TO GEORGIA PROSECUTORS ANGERS IMMIGRATION AND DEFENSE BARS 
While legislators and the INS are urging the use of prosecutorial discretion in bringing immigration cases in response to growing media coverage of long-term permanent residents for petty crimes committed years ago, the INS General Counsel in Atlanta, Georgia is pursuing an aggressive campaign to deport noncitizens with criminal convictions.  In a letter sent to all District Attorneys and US Attorneys in the state, the General Counsel urges them to seek higher bonds for aliens, to not plea bargain, and to be sure to obtain sentences in excess of one year to ensure deportation. 
Immigrant advocates and defense attorneys believe the memo provides an insight into the workings of the INS.  Michael Shapiro, director of the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, called the memo “despicable,” adding that “It clearly indicates that INS has an agenda to deport these people, many of whom are legal residents who have been in this country for years.”  Critics also fault the memo for encouraging actions against people who committed minor crimes and received only 12-month sentences, and for encouraging prosecutors to refuse plea bargains that would result in a sentence of less than 12 months. 
The INS District Director in Georgia, W. Fred Alexander, said the memo was written at the request of area district attorneys.  He does not take the concerns about the memo seriously.  According to him, attorneys will “complain because he (a client) isn't in a nice-enough prison and they're going to complain because the guy was deported.” 
Georgia recently passed a law that will become effective this summer requiring judges to warn people of the immigration consequences of guilty pleas.  Already many judges are reducing sentences from 12 months, which renders a person deportable, to 11 months and 29 days, so they cannot be deported.  
Prosecutors who have been questioned about the memo say that while it is helpful to have information about federal immigration law, they do not plan on using it to guide all their decisions.  One district attorney said that he “would not change the way we do business simply to facilitate the deportation of otherwise nonviolent criminals.”  Another was more blunt, saying “The INS doesn’t tell me how to negotiate my cases.”