George Gascón, the Leftist Los Angeles County DA, has started to push area prosecutors to allow illegal immigrants that are currently under criminal investigation to make the claim that such charges could have “adverse immigration consequences” as a means to try and dodge deportation.
This policy pushed prosecutors to look into other alternative avenues instead of criminal convictions “such as avoiding charging for criminal enhancements, which can significantly increase one’s prison sentence, ‘that would turn an otherwise immigration neutral offense into an immigration damaging one,'” explained a report from Fox News.
“Sources within the L.A. DA’s office say this new directive from George Gascon allows anyone under criminal investigation to contact the DA’s office before a case is filed and notify them that charges could have ‘adverse immigration consequences,’” claimed William La Jeunesse, a reporter for Fox News. “And if alternatives exist, DAs are told to pursue those instead.”
When speaking about the deportation of illegal immigrants as a result of criminal convictions, La Jeunesse claimed, “Gascon does not want that to happen, telling his deputies don’t go to court, don’t file charges, plead it down, dismiss, or seek diversion without flagging immigration.”
“All charging determinations shall be undertaken with the goal of avoiding or mitigating adverse immigration consequences,” expressed the orders from Gascón.
As the communications director for the office of the DA, Tiffany Blackwell explained to Fox News Digital, “We’ve consulted with our staff, community stakeholders and immigration experts to craft a comprehensive immigration policy that protects vulnerable victims and prioritizes safety while attempting to avoid overly punitive consequences for the accused. We believe that we have achieved that result.”
On the other hand, La Jeunesse explained that deputies within Gascón’s office think they will be receiving multitudinous requests from a large number of immigration lawyers, all ending up with the average U.S. citizen being forced to face more serious charges for crimes than illegal immigrants.
“That’s saying we’re giving better deals to someone because of their immigration status,” stated the vice president of the Association for Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles County, Eric Siddall, to Fox News Digital.
This past June, Gascón, who is known to back entirely too soft-on-crime policies that result in residents being put at risk, was slammed with quite a bit of backlash after a well-known criminal murdered a pair of police officers after he was only sentenced to probation instead of jail time in 2020 due to an illegal gun charge.
While on parole at the time of the attacks, Justin William Flores snatched up a plea deal in which he was only issued probation for two years and just 20 days in jail back in 2020 because of the policy set up by Gascón to not actually prosecute any three-strike cases. Before the AG set up this policy, Flores could have ended up being sent back to prison for a stint of three years as he had already been slammed with prison time twice before on charges of felony burglary and car theft. Flores had been banned from gun ownership since 2011.
“Court records also showed at least a dozen other prosecutions, many resolved with no contest pleas and probationary sentences, for charges such as driving with a suspended license, being under the influence of a controlled substance, or resisting arrest,” stated a report from the NBC Los Angeles. “Law enforcement sources told the I-Team they believed at least one of the two murdered officers would have recognized Flores on sight and by name.”
The AG’s office chose to stand behind the choice of softer sentences for Flores, claiming, “The sentence he received in the firearm case was consistent with case resolutions for this type of offense given his criminal history and the nature of the offense. At the time the court sentenced him, Mr. Flores did not have a documented history of violence,” explained The Daily Mail.
