Trump's 'Zero Tolerance' border policy was pushed aggressively by Jeff Sessions, despite warnings...

Source: Washington Post



Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ border policy was pushed aggressively by Jeff Sessions, despite warnings, Justice Department review finds

By Nick Miroff and Matt Zapotosky
Jan. 14, 2021 at 12:48 p.m. EST

The Trump administration and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions barreled forward with their “Zero Tolerance” border crackdown in 2018 knowing that the policy would separate migrant children from their parents and despite warnings that the government was ill-prepared to deal with the consequences, according to a long-awaited report issued Thursday by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.

The report called the Justice Department and the attorney general’s office a “driving force” in making sure the Department of Homeland Security aggressively increased the prosecution of adults arriving with children, findings that cast doubt on statements made by Sessions that the government “never really intended” to separate families.

“DOJ officials were aware of many of these challenges prior to issuing the zero tolerance policy, but they did not attempt to address them until after the policy was issued,” the report states.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal entities have issued internal reports assessing the failings of the Zero Tolerance effort, but the DOJ report provides new details about Sessions’s aggressive role in pushing the crackdown, despite numerous red flags.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trumps-zero-tolerance-border-policy-was-pushed-aggressively-by-jeff-sessions-despite-warnings-justice-department-review-finds/2021/01/14/b283093a-567a-11eb-89bc-7f51ceb6bd57_story.html

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