Tougher penalties ordered for illegal entry
NOGALES, Ariz. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed federal prosecutors in the states bordering Mexico to crack down harder on migrants who repeatedly enter the country illegally.
A memorandum made public Tuesday orders each federal border district to appoint a “border security coordinator” to oversee “the investigation and prosecution” of migrants under the new policy.
“For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era,” Mr. Sessions said Tuesday in a speech at the Nogales Point of Entry in Arizona.
The border districts are Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, Southern Texas and Western Texas.
Currently, the crime of improper entry by a migrant is a misdemeanor. Under the new policy, it will be prosecuted as a felony for migrants who already have two such misdemeanor convictions or for those with just one conviction if there are aggravating circumstances, such as gang affiliation.
The memorandum also requires prosecutors to seek, as often as possible, deportation orders against defendants in immigration-related cases, and directs each office to designate a border security coordinator tasked with overseeing the investigation and prosecution of immigration cases.
Mr. Sessions had called for immigration courts to speed up prosecutions and for the Justice Department to hire 75 more immigration judges, along with 60 more border enforcement prosecutors.
In related news, a new policy seen as a priority for Mr. Trump was suspended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The recently adopted practice of reporting cities that don’t cooperate with federal detention efforts was plagued by errors in its first few reports.
The policy was an attempt to pressure cities and counties that refuse to hold people in the country illegally for immigration agents.
Mr. Sessions has been particularly busy lately.
He announced Monday that he will end a Justice Department partnership with independent scientists to raise forensic science standards and has suspended an expanded review of FBI testimony across several techniques that have come under question, saying a new strategy will be set by an in-house team of law enforcement advisers.