Brooklyn DA Will Hire Immigration Experts To Avoid Needless Deportations

BROOKLYN, NY — Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez will hire one or two attorneys specializing in immigration law to help the office avoid needless deportations, a spokesman for the DA confirmed Friday.

The Brooklyn Eagle reported that during a recent speech before the Kings County Criminal Bar Association, Gonzalez said that while advancing through the DA's office, he "was trained that immigration is a collateral consequence and not something for me to be directly mindful of. I can't stand by that anymore."

"The thought of having someone deported because they pled to a misdemeanor is ridiculous," the paper quoted Gonzalez as saying.

A spokesman for Gonzalez said Friday that the DA's attorneys often have to rely on defense lawyers to inform them if a particular charge or plea deal could trigger a deportation order. As a result, he said, "sometimes things can fall through the cracks" and people are deported without necessity.

The DA's new attorneys will "serve as resources for the office," the DA spokesman said, so that "when we offer pleas" or craft charges, "we are aware of the totality of collateral consequences."

As an example, the spokesman said that in certain circumstances, an individual sentenced to more than a year in jail could face deportation as a result. In such a case, if the DA doesn't believe the individual deserves to be deported, the office could ask for less jail time and more community service, the spokesman said.

However, he added that every case will be evaluated individually, and that the DA won't be instituting a broad policy concerning when deportation should be off the table.

"Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it," he said, while at other times, such as following violent offenses, it's needed.

The spokesman said Gonzalez has been touring the borough, and is aware of heightened concern over national immigration policy. His announcement is partly a response to that, the spokesman said, but is also the result of Gonzalez' approach to his job.

"I think the baseline motivation is that we always work to be as fair as we can," the spokesman said. "If we want to be fair and just, then we need to make sure that there's no unforeseen consequences."

The spokesman said the DA's office does not have an estimate of how many Brooklyn residents have been deported due to charges brought against them, saying that the complexity of relevant legal cases makes such a number hard to determine.

Pictured at top: Eric Gonzalez. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn DA's office.