Sessions vows to prosecute all illegal border crossers, split parents, children
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Justice Department will begin prosecuting every person who illegally crosses into the United States along the Southwest border, a hardline policy shift focusing in particular on migrants traveling with children.
In separate speeches - one in Scottsdale, Arizona, the other in San Diego - Sessions said the Department of Homeland Security will begin referring such cases to the Justice Department for prosecution. Federal prosecutors will “take on as many of those cases as humanly possible until we get to 100 percent,” he said.
“If you cross the border unlawfully ... then we will prosecute you,” Sessions said. “If you smuggle an illegal alien across the border, then we’ll prosecute you ... . If you’re smuggling a child, then we’re going to prosecute you and that child will be separated from you, probably, as required by law. If you don’t want your child separated, then don’t bring them across the border illegally. It’s not our fault that somebody does that.”
DHS officials say they have seen a significant increase in illegal border crossings over the past year, including a rise in the number of families and unaccompanied children. In the past month, Border Patrol officers say they have encountered more than 50,000 immigrants trying to enter the United States. From April 2017 to April 2018, the number of apprehensions and “inadmissible” border crossings tripled, according to DHS.
Advocates for migrants have said most are fleeing violence in Central America and should be treated as asylum-seekers, not criminals. The American Civil Liberties Union has already filed a federal lawsuit in California over past separations.
Sessions indicated that while he has “no doubt” people illegally crossing the border are fleeing danger or despair, “We cannot take everyone on this planet who is in a difficult situation.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, D, who has battled the Trump administration in court, signaled that he was following the issue closely.
“As a father, the last thing I would do is separate fathers and mothers from their children and I would hope the federal government thinks twice about doing this,” Becerra said. “There are constitutional protections we can look to.”
In San Diego, Sessions was interrupted by a heckler with a megaphone.
“We don’t want you in our state,” the man yelled. “Are you going to be separating families? Is that why you’re here? Why are you doing this? Do you have a heart? Do you have a soul? Why do you work for this administration?”
Senior immigration and border officials called for the increased prosecutions last month in a confidential memo to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. They said filing criminal charges against migrants, including parents traveling with children, would be the “most effective” way to tamp down on illegal border crossings.
The so-called “zero-tolerance” measure announced Monday could split up thousands of families because children are not allowed in criminal jails. Until now, most families apprehended crossing the border illegally have been released to await civil deportation hearings.
The Trump administration piloted this approach in the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which includes New Mexico, between July and November 2017, and said the number of families attempting to cross illegally plunged by 64 percent.
The New York Times reported last month that hundreds of children have been taken from their parents at the border since October.
Nielsen told lawmakers in April that DHS aims to keep families together “as long as operationally possible.” She said families are separated to “protect the children” in case the adults traveling with them are not really their parents.