Border Officials Suspend Handing Over Migrant Families to Prosecutors.
Source: nyt
McALLEN, Tex. — The nation’s top border security official said on Monday that his agency has temporarily stopped handing over migrant adults who cross the Mexican border with children to prosecutors, undercutting claims by other administration officials that “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration in still in place.
Kevin K. McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said he had told border agents not to refer families to the Justice Department for prosecution until the two agencies can agree on a policy that would allow parents to be prosecuted without separating them from their children.
Because Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not have enough detention space for families, the immediate impact of the decision will be that many families will be quickly released, with a promise to return for a court date at some point in the future.
The decision by Mr. McAleenan, conveyed to reporters at a detention center here, will effectively revive a “catch and release” approach used during the Obama administration for most families crossing the Mexican border illegally. President Trump has repeatedly railed against “catch and release” and blamed it for helping to invite waves of crime and violence into the United States.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/politics/border-officials-suspend-handing-over-migrant-families-to-prosecutors.html?
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday in Reno, Nev. He vowed Monday to continue enforcing President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.CreditBridget Bennett for The New York Times
...............Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said that while there has been no official change in the zero-tolerance policy, the reality is that the government does not have the ability to detain all of the families crossing the border illegally.
“We’re not changing the policy,” Ms. Sanders said. “We’re simply out of resources.” She blamed Democrats in Congress for not changing immigration laws in ways that would keep migrant families out of the country in the first place. In fact, it was the Trump administration’s choice to impose a zero-tolerance policy that led to families being separated at the border.
“We’re working with Congress, hopefully, to provide more resources and the ability to actually enforce the law,” Ms. Sanders said, highlighting the practical challenge in making good on the president’s executive order to avoid separating children from their parents.
At the same time, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared to contradict Mr. McAleenan and Ms. Sanders, vowing Monday to continue enforcing Mr. Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. Mr. Sessions told more than 1,000 school resource officers in Reno, Nev., that refusing to prosecute adults crossing illegally into the United States would be a disservice to the children they bring with them.
“The president has made this clear: We are going to prosecute those adults who came here illegally,” Mr. Sessions insisted, though he added that the government will “do everything in our power” to comply with the president’s order......................................
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