Discretionary Authority: Prosecutorial Discretion, Power Abuse, and Immigration

Public administrators are entitled to a certain extent of discretionary authority while implementing laws, but are limited by the expectation that they interpret them with good intentions, comply with the legislature, and exercise them ethically to avoid impacting the public negatively. The literature shows that failure to use discretionary authority fairly and implement immigration statutes equitably not only negatively impacts the affected immigrants, but may have major consequences on the lives of innocent immigrants/asylum seekers. This qualitative study seeks to answer the question, What effect does the abuse of power in public organizations have on immigrants? The independent variable examined will be the degree of power abuse, measured by the range of observable characteristics that will indicate any degree of abuse of power. The dependent variable examined is the impact the power abuse will have on the immigrants, measured by the range of observable traits that indicate how these immigrants are negatively affected by the abuse. The scope of this research is focused on the effect of the immigration policies/executive orders on immigrants within the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Characteristics such as the presence of Illegal/unconstitutional travel bans, existence of antidemocratic policies not having majority approval by Congress, evidence of discriminatory policies that violate international and federal laws, the scope of enforcement power, and evidence of fair and consistent treatment with the immigrants. Twenty Sudanese Muslim participants from a U.S. detention center were selected for an interview, with data collected using non-probability convenience sampling as it is the most convenient method for this study. During the interviews, detainees were provided with a translator and asked to answer the study questionnaire used to collect data on the effects of power abuse, as well as the PCL-5 stress survey to assess their stress levels during detention. The expected findings based on the data collection will identify the causes of the power abuse stemming from discretionary authority granted through flawed U.S. immigration policies. This study seeks to prove that current discretionary authority inevitably leads to power abuse that causes negative emotional, psychological, physical, social, and financial effects on the lives of immigrant detainees. The data from the PCL-5 PTSD survey (Appendix C) will be analyzed, and may show that the detention process lead to the development of PTSD among immigrants due to the effects of power abuse.