Do fewer charges in Mississippi immigration raid signal policy shift? Justice Department says no

Of the nearly 400 suspected illegal immigrants were held during the May raid on the Postville, Iowa, processing plant, 300 were charged in criminal court. By contrast, only eight have been charged in the Laurel, Miss., raid that saw 600 detained, a move that may signal a shift in the Bush administration's approach to illegal immigration.

The Washington Post's Spencer S. Hsu reports that the Postville process raised questions about due process from criminal defense and immigration lawyers. Most of those charges resulted in five-month sentences. By contrast, most of those detained in the raid at Howard Industries in Mississippi faced civil deportation proceedings instead of criminal charges.

Despite the difference in the number of the criminal proceedings in the two cases, officials deny any policy shift. The Department of Justice "has not changed policies or procedures regarding immigration enforcement actions," said Carrie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Instead, decisions in each situation "were made by prosecutors in the field based on the facts and circumstances of each case." (Read more)