More Arizona border crossers prosecuted
Enforcement fails with repeat perps, critics say
PHOENIX — When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered his get-tough-on-immigration speech in the border city of Nogales early this year, he promised a “new era” in immigration enforcement.
Six months later, some of those promises are taking shape in federal court, but through the expansion of a nearly decade-old program known as Operation Streamline, in which immigrants accused of coming into the U.S. illegally complete a usually months-long prosecution process in one day. Critics say the program violates due process and does nothing to deter repeat offenses.
In Arizona, federal authorities are now prosecuting first-time border crossers — heavily increasing the program’s caseload — after years of prosecuting only repeat offenders. The move is a small part of the overall increase in immigrant prosecutions that Sessions has called for.
Just how effective Operation Streamline is at reducing repeat border crossings is unclear.
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the way the Border Patrol calculates recidivism rates in programs such as Operation Streamline results in lower figures by only considering whether a defendant re-entered illegally within a year.
The Border Patrol finds 14 percent who go through programs designed to deter border crossings reoffend. The Government Accountability Office puts that figure at 29 percent based on its own methodology, which the Border Patrol has declined to adopt.
Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Jennifer Gabris said the recidivism rate for defendants who go through Operation Streamline was about 8 percent in the 2016 fiscal year.
The Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, which comprises most of Arizona, is one of four in the nation that still use the program.
Border Patrol Chief Rodolfo Karisch said programs like Operation Streamline are necessary to show those who cross illegally that there are consequences.
“At the end of the day, if you simply arrest someone and nothing ever happens to them, then they just continue to come back,” Karisch said.