More judges sent to southern border
AG says he’s trying to discourage illegal immigrants
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is sending 35 more prosecutors and 18 more immigration judges to the southwest border after a caravan of migrants from Central America arrived in Tijuana hoping to apply for asylum in the U.S.
Sessions said he is trying to send a message to the world not to come to the U.S. illegally.
“We are not going to let this country be overwhelmed. People are not going to caravan or otherwise stampede our border. We need legality and integrity in the system,” Sessions told reporters. “People should wait their turn, ask to apply lawfully before entering our country. So we are sending a message worldwide: Don’t come illegally.”
At least 50 migrants from Central America remained camped under tents and tarps in Tijuana outside the gates of the U.S. San Ysidro port of entry last week.
They are hoping to present themselves to U.S. border officers and apply for asylum, expressing fear of being killed if returned to their home countries.
A total of 158 migrants from Central America that traveled through Mexico in a caravan have been admitted into the United States to apply for asylum, organizers said last week.
Of those, 70 were allowed into the San Ysidro port on Thursday after spending four nights camped out on the cement in Tijuana just outside the gate.
The Trump administration has charac-
terized the migrant caravan as a threat to border security and national sovereignty.
The 35 prosecutors will handle prosecutions of improper entry, illegal reentry and human smuggling, Arizona and New Mexico each will get six additional prosecutors, California will get eight and Texas will receive 15, Sessions said.
Sessions announced a week ago that 11 migrants suspected of traveling with the caravan are being processed after attempting to enter the U.S. illegally about four miles west of the San Ysidro port.
But caravan organizers said they don’t know if the 11 being prosecuted were part of the caravan.
They maintain they are trying to help migrants fleeing for their lives apply for asylum the legal way by presenting themselves at official ports of entry, not by crossing the border illegally.
Sessions said the 18 immigration judges are being sent to the southern border help process asylum claims. They will be sent to two Arizona immigration detention facilities in Florence and Eloy, and three California detention facilities in Adelanto, Imperial and Otay Mesa, Sessions said.
The judges will hear cases in person and use video teleconferences to handle cases, Sessions said.
Sessions said the additional prosecutors and immigration judges are being sent to handle “a crisis at the southern border.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics show that the total number of apprehensions of undocumented immigrants and “inadmissibles” — people arriving at ports without entry documents seeking asylum — hit 50,308 in March. That is a 37 percent increase from February and a 203 percent increase from March 2017, according to CBP data.
However, apprehensions and inadmissibles during the first six months of the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 totaled 237,176. That is the lowest number over the same period in four years, according to CBP data.
While there was an increase in March, overall Border Patrol apprehensions remain at the lowest levels in 40 years, said Sarah Pierce, policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
The additional immigration judges could help speed up the adjudication of a backlog of asylum cases, but hopefully not at the expense of due process, Pierce said.
“The hope is that the increased personnel at the border will not affect the due process that is merited in these cases,” she said.