Your case is not an emergency tonight. That is different from it not mattering. You are not the reader panicking about a deportation order arriving next week. You are the reader who looked at the government's own enforcement priorities, looked at your record, and concluded that your case should not be using court time at all. That instinct is often correct, and it has a procedural name: prosecutorial discretion. Getting there means persuading a specific ICE attorney at the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) to agree, in writing, that your case is not worth pursuing. It is a negotiation, not a filing you can do alone from a template.
Prosecutorial discretion is ICE's authority to decline to pursue, or to close, a removal case that is not an enforcement priority. It does not grant status. A request goes to the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), which can agree to dismiss, administratively close, or take no action on your case.
The Hard Truth
Prosecutorial discretion is a request, not a right. No statute entitles you to it, and the immigration judge cannot order OPLA's attorney to grant it. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' September 30, 2021 memorandum, ["Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law"](https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_0930_prioritization_memorandum.pdf), once gave OPLA attorneys a defined set of factors for these decisions. That memo was rescinded in 2025, and the current administration has not published a replacement framework in the same form. That gap matters more than most clients expect. Without published criteria, whether your request succeeds now depends heavily on which OPLA docket attorney is assigned to your case and how that person currently weighs enforcement posture against your individual record. As of FY2024, EOIR's own workload data show more than 3.7 million cases pending nationwide (per the [EOIR Adjudication Statistics dashboard](https://www.justice.gov/eoir/workload-and-adjudication-statistics), October 2024), which gives OPLA a practical incentive to close low-priority matters. Incentive is not entitlement. If OPLA declines, there is no appeal of that refusal. Your remaining options are to litigate the case on the merits, seek administrative closure under [Matter of Avetisyan, 25 I&N Dec. 688 (BIA 2012)](https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1341591/download), or ask the judge to terminate under [8 C.F.R. § 239.2](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-239/section-239.2). None of those is guaranteed either, and none of them is the same thing as winning your case, because there is no verdict to win here, only a decision about docket management.
What Happens If You Wait
Waiting does not preserve your position. Every case on the Charlotte Immigration Court docket has a next hearing date, and that date does not move while you decide whether to ask for discretion. Miss a filing tied to that hearing and the judge can enter a decision, including an in absentia removal order under INA § 240(b)(5), based on the record as it stands that day. OPLA's posture toward low-priority cases can shift with almost no notice. It did in 2025, when the Mayorkas memo was rescinded mid-docket for thousands of pending cases. A request that likely would have been granted under the old framework can draw a flat denial under the current one, and there is no way to know in advance which way a given OPLA office will lean this month. Your own record can also move the wrong direction while you wait. A new arrest, a missed check-in with [ICE ERO's Charlotte sub-office](https://www.ice.gov/) at 6130 Tyvola Centre Drive, or a lapse in reporting can convert a low-priority case into a high-priority one overnight, closing the door on a discretion request entirely.
Step-by-Step Process
1. Confirm the case actually fits current enforcement priorities. OPLA attorneys still informally weigh factors drawn from the rescinded Mayorkas framework: severity and age of any criminal history, length of continuous presence, family ties to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, health conditions, military service, and any pending application for lawful status. If your record includes a recent conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude or an aggravated felony under INA § 101(a)(43), a discretion request is unlikely to be granted and pursuing relief through the immigration judge may be the faster path. 2. Build the equities packet. This typically includes a cover letter identifying the assigned OPLA docket attorney by name and case number, certified dispositions for any arrests, five years of tax returns, proof of U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family relationships, and letters from employers, clergy, or community organizations documenting ties to North Carolina. 3. Submit the request to the Atlanta OPLA office, which prosecutes removal cases filed in the Charlotte Immigration Court. There is no statutory deadline for OPLA to respond; in practice, a first substantive reply often takes several weeks to a few months, and OPLA frequently asks for supplemental documents before deciding. 4. If OPLA agrees, the next filing depends on what was agreed to. A joint motion to dismiss under 8 C.F.R. § 239.2 ends the case outright. A joint motion for administrative closure under Matter of Avetisyan takes the case off the active calendar without ending it. Both are filed electronically through EOIR's ECAS system to the immigration judge assigned at the Charlotte Immigration Court, 5701 Executive Center Drive, Suite 400. 5. If OPLA declines, or does not respond before your next hearing, you still need a plan for that hearing date. That usually means evaluating whether you qualify for [cancellation of removal](/immigration/cancellation-of-removal), [asylum](/immigration/asylum), or [adjustment of status](/immigration/green-cards) directly with USCIS's Charlotte Field Office at 5423 Brookshire Boulevard. 6. If the case is administratively closed rather than dismissed, either party can move to recalendar it later. Termination or dismissal, by contrast, ends the proceeding and generally allows you to pursue an application directly with USCIS without an open removal case in the background.
A Real-World Example
Consider a composite: a line cook in Charlotte with one ten-year-old traffic misdemeanor, married to a U.S. citizen, with two U.S.-citizen children, placed in removal proceedings after a routine ICE check-in surfaced an old, unexecuted Notice to Appear. His attorney assembled an equities packet: marriage certificate, both children's birth certificates, five years of joint tax returns, and letters from his employer and church. The packet went to the specific OPLA attorney assigned to the case, referenced against the case number and the next scheduled Charlotte Immigration Court hearing date. OPLA requested additional proof of continuous residence and took roughly six weeks to review the supplemented file. In the meantime, his attorney filed a protective motion for continuance so the hearing date would not lapse into a default while OPLA's review was pending. That sequence, assessment, documentation, submission, and a wait for OPLA's own decision, is the actual process. What OPLA ultimately does with a request like this, whether it agrees to a joint motion, declines and proceeds to a merits hearing, or asks for more time, is a decision that belongs to OPLA, not to the client or the attorney presenting the packet.
William J. Vasquez is the founding attorney of Vasquez Law Firm, PLLC, admitted to the North Carolina State Bar and to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His removal-defense practice includes preparing prosecutorial discretion requests and joint motions to dismiss for cases pending before the Charlotte Immigration Court, working directly with the Atlanta OPLA docket attorneys who prosecute cases filed out of North Carolina. Our immigration team has handled removal cases across the priority spectrum, from detained dockets requiring bond litigation to non-detained cases like the one described above. We describe that work by volume and focus, not by outcome, because OPLA's decisions are not something any attorney can guarantee. For his full professional background and bar admissions, see [William J. Vasquez's attorney profile](/attorneys/william-vasquez).
Key Terms Explained
Prosecutorial Discretion: ICE's authority to decline to initiate, or to close, removal proceedings against a person who is not an enforcement priority. It is a policy choice by the agency, not a form of legal status. Notice to Appear (NTA): the charging document that starts removal proceedings, filed with the immigration court under INA § 239. Administrative Closure: removing a case from the immigration judge's active calendar without ending it, available under Matter of Avetisyan, 25 I&N Dec. 688 (BIA 2012). Either party can later move to put the case back on the calendar. Termination or Dismissal: an order ending removal proceedings entirely, available under 8 C.F.R. § 239.2 (DHS-requested dismissal) or through the judge's own authority under INA § 240. Deferred Action: a time-limited decision by ICE not to execute a removal, separate from and narrower than a full case closure; it does not end pending court proceedings on its own. OPLA: ICE's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, the office of government attorneys who prosecute removal cases in immigration court. Cases filed in the Charlotte Immigration Court are prosecuted by the Atlanta OPLA office. ECAS: EOIR's electronic filing system, used to submit motions, including joint motions to dismiss or for administrative closure, to the assigned immigration judge. Equities Packet: the set of documents, letters, and records submitted to OPLA to support a discretion request, typically covering family ties, criminal history, length of residence, and community involvement.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does ICE OPLA take to respond to a prosecutorial discretion request? There is no statutory or regulatory deadline. In practice, a first substantive response often takes several weeks to a few months, and OPLA may ask for more documents before deciding, which restarts the clock. What happens if OPLA denies my request? Your case stays on the Charlotte Immigration Court docket and proceeds toward a hearing on the merits. You can still pursue other relief, such as cancellation of removal or asylum, in front of the immigration judge; a denial of discretion is not a decision on those claims. Is administrative closure the same as my case being dismissed? No. Administrative closure takes the case off the active calendar but leaves it open; either party can ask to recalendar it later. Dismissal or termination ends the case. Can I apply for a green card while my case is administratively closed? Sometimes, but USCIS treats an open removal case differently depending on the application type, and some benefits require the removal case to be terminated first. This is one of the first things to check before relying on administrative closure as a long-term plan. Does a criminal record rule out prosecutorial discretion? Not automatically, but it matters a great deal. A single, older misdemeanor is treated very differently from a recent conviction for an aggravated felony or a crime involving moral turpitude under INA § 101(a)(43), which will make most OPLA offices decline a request outright.
Client feedback on Google and Avvo describes our immigration team as direct about timelines and honest when an outcome is uncertain, rather than promising a result no attorney controls. We do not publish a grant rate for prosecutorial discretion requests. OPLA does not release that data publicly, and Florida Bar Rule 4-7.13 and comparable rules in other states bar firms from advertising case results that cannot be independently verified.
A prosecutorial discretion request is only as strong as the packet behind it, and the packet only works if it is aimed at the right OPLA attorney with the right documentation for that specific office's current practice. Before drafting a cover letter to someone you have never met, it helps to have someone review your NTA, your criminal history, and your next Charlotte Immigration Court hearing date first.
If your case is on the Charlotte Immigration Court docket and you want to know whether it qualifies for a discretion request, administrative closure, or termination, schedule a consultation with Vasquez Law Firm's removal defense team. We will review your NTA, your criminal and immigration history, and your upcoming hearing date before recommending which path, if any, gives you a realistic chance of getting the case off the active docket.
- Cancellation of Removal
- Asylum
- U Visa
- Adjustment of Status / Green Card
- Charlotte Immigration Court Information
- William J. Vasquez Attorney Profile
- EOIR Immigration Court Practice Manual, Chapter 5