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Screen shot of document from ice.gov

A section of a June 2011 federal government memo urging prosecutorial discretion in the removal of certain immigrants, from a list of factors to consider

Last month, the Obama administration announced that it would review some 300,000 cases of immigrants in the deportation pipeline, potentially sparing many deemed a low priority for deportation from removal. Among these low priorities were young people who arrived here as children, and who have or are pursuing a higher education degree in the United States.

Challenges to the policy shift were inevitable, as people whose cases are eligible for review continue to move through the system. But a particularly high-profile challenge has surfaced now in the imminent deportation of Matias Ramos, one of the nation’s most prominent undocumented student leaders and the co-founder of United We Dream, an advocacy network for undocumented youth. A well-known spokesman for these students, Ramos was most recently quoted in a news story about how some pay for college.

Earlier today, Ramos tweeted, “Obama gave someone a contract to put an electronic shackle on me.” Ramos, 25, who was born in Argentina, attached a link to a photo of himself wearing an electronic monitoring device.

The photo is accompanied by a petition to stop his deportation, describing how he must “charge it against a wall for three hours a day” and that has been ordered to leave the country within 14 days. He has been in deportation proceedings since last year.

Petitions and social media campaigns to stop deportations – which Ramos’ supporters have already mounted – are common among undocumented student activists pushing for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would grant conditional legal status to certain young people who arrived before age 16 if they attend college or join the military. Some have been successful, others not.

What happens with Ramos’ case could be held as a precedent by student activists, who have already been challenging the administration’s position. On paper, Ramos’ case would seem to meet the criteria for clemency under the plans announced by the Department of Homeland Security last month, which are guided by a June memo from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton. The memo urged the use of prosecutorial discretion in certain cases, including those of people who arrived as minors and are pursuing an education.

Ramos arrived in the U.S. at age 13, is a UCLA graduate with a degree in political science and is now a fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C. From the June 17 ICE memo on prosecutorial discretion, here are just a few of the factors to be considered in individual immigrants’ deportation cases:

• the person’s length of presence in the United States, with particular consideration given to presence while in lawful status

• the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the United States and the manner of his or her entry, particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child

• the person’s pursuit of education in the United States, with particular consideration given to those who have graduated from a U.S. high school or have successfully pursued or are pursuing a college or advanced degrees at a legitimate institution of higher education in the United States

• whether the person, or the person’s immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military reserves, or national guard, with particular consideration given to those who served in combat

• the person’s criminal history, including arrests, prior convictions, or outstanding arrest warrants

The complete ICE memo and guidelines can be downloaded here.