The criteria, listed in a memo issued this week by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, answer questions that have persisted since June 2011, when the agency advised in a memo that officials should consider "ties and contributions to the community, including family relationships" while exercising their prosecutorial discretion over low-priority deportation cases. Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who oversees ICE, indicated in a letter to Congress that the guidance would be forthcoming after 84 House Democrats wrote to request the clarification.