The Georgia Immigration Pardons: A Case Study in Mass Clemency

The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) enlarged the class of aliens subject to mandatory deportation as "aggravated felons" under the Immigration and Nationality Act. There is only one way of avoiding deportation where a non-citizen has at any time in the past been convicted of an offense triggering removal, and that is to obtain a pardon. Over the 15-month period ending in June of 2001, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole granted 138 pardons to permanent resident aliens who had suddenly found themselves subject to deportation under IIRAIRA. Recipients of these pardons included people who had lived in the United States for many years, were married to U.S. citizens, and who had U.S. citizen children. Some of them had been convicted of very minor offenses years before IIRAIRA'S enactment. Vera Institute of Justice.