This includes Jefferson Sessions, who announced the "Zero Tolerance" policy in April, and in a written memorandum, directed all U.S. Attorneys to refer all adults who enter the country without authorization for criminal prosecution.
Accordingly, I direct each United States Attorney's Office along the Southwest Border to the extent practicable, and in consultation with DHS- to adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses referred for prosecution under section 1325(a). This zero-tolerance policy shall supersede any existing policies.
This complemented Trump's earlier executive orders and memos on the topic. It was Trump who signed an Executive Order in January, 2017 requiring detention of those who enter the country without proper authorization.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the executive branch to:
b) detain individuals apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law, including Federal immigration law, pending further proceedings regarding those violations;
Trump then cemented this with his Executive Memorandum in April, 2018 ending "Catch and Release", under which adults who entered the country without authorization could be processed by the immigration courts and remain in the community while their court cases and requests for asylum were being considered. Trump says his first Order didn't go far enough.
In Executive Order 13767 of January 25, 2017 (Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements), I directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue new policy guidance regarding the appropriate and consistent use of detention authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), including the termination of the practice known as ‘‘catch and release,’’ whereby aliens are released in the United States shortly after their apprehension for violations of our immigration laws. On February 20, 2017,
the Secretary issued a memorandum taking steps to end ‘‘catch and release’’ practices. These steps have produced positive results. Still, more must be done to enforce our laws and to protect our country from the dangers of releasing detained aliens into our communities while their immigration claims are pending.
Here is Jefferson Sessions' latest sorry excuse.
There is no law that requires criminal prosecution of misdemeanor unlawful entry cases. As more than 50 former U.S. Attorneys wrote to Sessions this week in a plea to end his zero tolerance policy:
It is a simple matter of fact that the time a Department attorney spends prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry cases, may be time he or she does not spend investigating more significant crimes like a terrorist plot, a child human trafficking organization, an international drug cartel or a corrupt public official. Under your Zero Tolerance policy, firearms cases, violent crime cases, financial fraud cases, and cases involving public safety on Indian reservations all take a back seat to these lesser, weaker misdemeanor cases. In fact, requiring U.S. Attorneys to bring these misdemeanor cases in every instance detracts from your own stated priority to fight gangs and violent crime by groups such as MS-13.
The combination of unnecessary child trauma and dangerous national security impact is exacerbated by the crushing expense of arresting and detaining every "illegal entry" misdemeanor defendant. At a time when federal prison costs are threatening to blow an unfillable hole in the Department of Justice's budget, the United States must now bear the cost of detaining parents and their entire families for months as their misdemeanor cases wind through the court system. This fiscal burden also falls on the Department of Homeland Security, whose officers and agents process the parents; federal defenders' offices who represent them; the Department of Health and Human Services which houses the children; and the already overburdened federal courts those who enter the U.S. unlawfully.
Last week, in a written decision, Jefferson Sessions overturned long-standing policy on asylum seekers.
Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum.
Donald Trump and Jefferson Sessions get an "F" grade when it comes to honesty, transparency, and decency as a human beings. Neither one should be in a leadership position in this country. Donald Trump is trying to bribe Congress. He is demanding that funding for his border wall be included in any immigration bill. He has said over and over that funding his border wall is a necessary component of any bill that reaches his desk. As for Sessions, he must have been born that way. Even his own church has filed a formal complaint against him.
In the meantime, has anyone found the 6,000 missing children?
