Legislation Urges Prosecutorial Discretion in Deportation Cases

t the last City Council meeting, Council Members Kendall Stewart and Bill de Blasio, Chairmen of the Immigration Committee and General Welfare Committee respectively, introduced important immigration legislation. Resolution #1153 urges the Office of Immigration Customs Enforcement to exercise prosecutorial discretion and decline to carry out removal orders in exceptional situations where deportation would cause extreme hardship to individuals themselves, their families, or community members.

Stewart explained that in 1996, changes in immigration law took away much discretion from judges, although immigration officials were left with the authority to determine whether or not to enforce removal orders. Consequently, there are many persons who committed an infraction fifteen or twenty years ago who now find themselves in deportation detention – despite the fact that long ago they completely changed their lives and have become highly respected members of their communities.

Council Member de Blasio told of two particularly egregious cases on which this resolution focuses:

The first is the case of Chibueze Okorie, originally from Nigeria, who now lives and works in de Blasio’s district as a minister, preaching and doing invaluable work with prisoners and former prisoners.

Like so many immigrants, in 1989 Okorie came to New York on a tourist visa seeking opportunity. However, shortly after arriving, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and was sentenced to eighteen months, time served.

After being released from jail and serving three years on parole, in the early 1990s Chibueze Okorie joined the Church of Gethsemane in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Since then, he has devoted his life to serving the church and its congregants. As Minister of Evangelism and an elder in the church, he has ministered to hundreds of formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as to their families.

Okorie earned a Certificate in Christian Ministry from the New York Theological Seminary, and in 2004 he established the charitable, non-profit organization Community Central Re-Entry. Its mission is to provide crucial services to former prisoners that will help them reintegrate productively into society. The organization also helps families provide support.

By any standard, Chibueze Okorie is a stellar example of someone who, through hard work and dedication to his ideals, has turned his life around. His story brings hope to countless incarcerated individuals who struggle to imagine how to fit themselves into society after serving their sentences.

Okorie's valuable contributions have been recognized by many institutions, including the Council of the City of New York, the NYC Chapter of the National Black and Presbyterian Caucus, and the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Numerous religious leaders have leant their support to Okorie’s efforts to remain in this country, and at least twenty elected officials at the local, state and federal levels have written to immigration officials requesting that Chibueze Okorie be allowed to stay. "But because of an old offense he committed almost twenty years ago, Mr. Okorie is about to be deported," Council Member de Blasio stated. " In a case where someone is contributing so greatly to their community and helping others overcome whatever mistakes they made in the past, they should be given consideration."

The other heartbreaking story de Blasio told of was that of Jamaican-born Andrea Marie Mortlock who entered the US in 1979 at the age of 15 as a lawful permanent resident. In 1987, she was convicted of the sale of a controlled substance and served a one-year sentence.

In 1995, her failure to attend an immigration hearing led to the issuance of a deportation order in absentia. She was held in immigration detention for almost three years before a federal judge ordered her release in 2003.

Since her release, Mortlock has not been arrested or had any other contact with the criminal justice system, and she and her lawyer have reported regularly to immigration headquarters.

In 1988, Andrea Mortlock was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Earlier this year, she was hospitalized with pneumonia and now suffers from extreme wasting syndrome and neuropathy. Even so, she was unexpectedly taken into custody on August 11^th and sent to a Passaic County jail in Paterson, New Jersey, where she was held until September 13^th. During that time she wasn’t able to see her physician. She also reported that she missed some medications and didn’t get essential dietary supplements regularly.

Although they released her from custody, authorities have not indicated that they intend to stop pursuing Mortlock’s deportation. If she is deported, she will lack access to critical nutritional supplements and growth hormones that have helped to stabilize her condition. Her physician predicts that "missing her medications will lead to rapid progression and death." Andrea Mortlock has no family in Jamaica, and her two children, both US citizens, live in New York City.

Resolution #1153 is also sponsored by John Liu and co-sponsored by Charles Barron, Miguel Martinez, Annabel Palma, and Lewis Fidler.

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