Administration targets parents

The Trump administration has begun a new tactic to crack down on illegal immigration, this time arresting unauthorized parents suspected of having paid to have their children ushered into the country by smugglers.

When unaccompanied children are apprehended at the border — often after having been taken there by smugglers — immigration officials initiate cases for their deportation, a process that can take months or years. In the meantime, many of those children are placed with parents or relatives who illegally crossed earlier to establish a foothold in the United States.

Until recently, those adults have not been priorities for arrest, even if they are in the country illegally.

But in February, President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, John F. Kelly, signed a memo promising to penalize people who pay smugglers to bring their children to the United States, saying the agency had “an obligation to ensure that those who conspire to violate our immigration laws do not do so with impunity.” Last week, Jennifer D. Elzea, deputy press secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed that arrests had begun.

In some cases, parents or other relatives who have taken in unauthorized children may face criminal smuggling-related charges and the prospect of prison; in other cases, they will be placed in deportation proceedings along with the children. The administration said the arrests would deter families from putting children in the hands of smugglers for dangerous journeys through regions controlled by drug cartels.

Parents and others “who have placed children directly into harm’s way by entrusting them to violent criminal organizations will be held accountable,” Elzea said.

The effort drew immediate criticism from immigrant advocates because it would separate families, including many that had fled violence or poverty.

It also would discourage parents from claiming custody of their children when they arrived in the United States, the advocates said. That could lead to more children being sent to juvenile immigrant detention centers.

Sarah Rodriguez, an ICE spokeswoman, said the agency would try to find other relatives to place children with before sending them to the detention centers.