Zero-tolerance overreach will have lasting effects
President Trump can, and should, immediately stop the zero-tolerance policy on immigration, which has triggered a senseless and wholly avoidable humanitarian crisis.
Under this policy, U.S. attorneys are being ordered to arrest and criminally charge every single immigrant for illegal entry – even those seeking asylum. The vast majority of these cases are misdemeanors, brought against migrants who pose no threat to anyone and solely want a better life for their families.
Prior administrations did not treat these immigrants as criminals; they processed them administratively, safely, and humanely. I served as the U.S. attorney for New Mexico for three years until 2017, and during my tenure, I directed our resources toward those posing a real threat to our communities. We investigated terrorist plots, human trafficking, international drug cartel activity and high-level corruption. Under the zerotolerance policy, however, such work takes a back seat to prosecuting the misdemeanors of those who most need our compassion, our aid and, yes, our justice system.
The Department of Justice was completely unprepared for the zero-tolerance policy and now is scrambling to handle the massive workload it has brought upon itself, triggering a domino effect of chaos and misallocation of resources across the government. The Department of Defense has been asked to assist, sending JAGs (military attorneys) to prosecute immigration cases at the border, as special assistant U.S. attorneys . ...
The Department of Justice is named so as an ideal – its purpose is to uphold justice and to give us the tools we need to provide it to every man, woman and child here. Each case should be viewed in light of the evidence to ensure a proper disposition. Now, however, the president has usurped the role of the prosecutor from deciding whether to charge or indict a case, effectively taking away prosecutorial discretion from local U.S. attorneys and setting himself up as the final decision-maker. This approach undermines the values inherent in the legal system and ignores the scales of justice we hold dear.
Because of the horrific images and stories of children separated from their moms and dads, President Trump bowed to political pressure and stopped his own policy of tearing families apart at our southern border. However, the nightmare of the children who have already been inhumanely separated from their parents remains very much alive. These children, including infants and toddlers, are detained at facilities sometimes thousands of miles from their parents. Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is immoral and wrong.
Until now, every previous administration has chosen a path that has balanced the need for effective enforcement and deterrence with humanity and compassion.
The American public – and particularly those of us who have devoted our lives to the cause of justice – should have zero tolerance for the president’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. As is to be expected from a powerful leader with no experience in government, immigration, border security, justice, or, it seems, compassion, President Trump has triggered a miserable and dangerous crisis that will haunt both families and American security for years to come. He must reverse course immediately, devote significant resources to the reunification of families, free prosecutors to uphold the law justly, and commit to a comprehensive and compassionate path forward on immigration. Effective leadership, moral decency and the integrity of the world’s leading law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, require nothing less.