U.S. attorney general renews calls to prosecute first-time border crossers

By Sarah N. Lynch and Mica Rosenberg

 

FILE PHOTO: United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions visits families of opioid overdose victims at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. March 15, 2018. REUTERS/John Sommers II

 

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ramped up calls on Friday to criminally prosecute immigrants who cross illegally into the United States, adding to a barrage of statements on immigration by the administration of President Donald Trump this week.

 

Pointing to an upswing in border crossings to levels seen during former President Barack Obama's tenure, Sessions said he was ordering U.S. attorneys offices near the Southwest border to prioritize bringing cases against first-time offenders.

 

Once border crossers are charged with illegal entry and deported, they can be charged with a felony carrying significant jail time if they are caught crossing illegally again.

 

Trump signed a memorandum on Friday ordering the end of the policy known as "catch and release," in which illegal immigrants are released from detention while awaiting a court hearing on their status.

 

Ending "catch and release" was one of Trump's central promises during the 2016 campaign, but immigration authorities have faced a shortage of space to house people who have been detained.

 

Among the measures outlined in the memo, Trump directed the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to produce a list of military facilities that could be used to detain illegal immigrants.

 

Earlier this week Trump pledged to deploy the National Guard to assist with border operations because he has not been able to secure funding to fulfill a central campaign promise of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signed a memo on Friday authorizing the deployment of up to 4,000 National Guard troops. The memo said the troops "will not perform law enforcement activities or interact with migrants."

 

About 150 National Guard members from Arizona will deploy to the border next week, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said on Twitter. The Texas National Guard said it was preparing to send about 250 troops to the border within three days.

 

The United States has sent military to the border a number of times over the years.

 

Sessions directed the U.S. attorneys offices in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to prosecute all the cases referred to under the criminal entry statute, known as 1325, "to the extent practicable."

 

Sessions in April 2017 had instructed prosecutors to increase their focus on criminally charging first-time offenders as well as people with multiple entries.

 

Some federal prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges have expressed concerns that charging border crossers en masse is a drain on court resources.

 

Supporters of Session's approach have said that criminal penalties deter repeat crossers, while detractors have said the prosecutions can deny legitimate asylum seekers the ability to properly file claims.

 

"This will be assembly-line justice, where large numbers of defendants are forced through the system without adequate time to consult counsel," Cecillia Wang, a deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

 

In December 2017, a group of immigrant advocacy organizations filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties division claiming that some immigrants being criminally prosecuted for crossing the border were being forcibly separated from their children.

 

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the complaint.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-07

 

 

Political BS. The cost of such a process would be in the hundreds of millions of $$. What's this fool want to do, set up prison camps  on the border? The US doesn't have the resources to feed and care for hundreds of thousands of these  illegals. Just close the border and send them back. Prosecute those who employ them, and incarcerate the  employers no matter  who they are.

It’s so ironic because all these people just like the illustrious mr. sessions here benefit and their lives are made so much more Cush and comfortable on a daily basis directly because of these immigrants. 

 

What id like to see for experimental sake is California without a single illegal immigrant. There would be far more bad aspects than good in my opinion. I could be wrong of course maybe everything would be perfect with no illegal immigration. 

The US really needs mandatory E-Verify and a mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for any employer who knowingly hires an illegal immigrant.  Good luck getting the so-called sanctuary cities/states to comply with this, though.

The way this country called USA deals with any aspect of immigration is a disgrace...a country where mostly everybody is an immigrant!

Mexicans have been picking the crops in Calif. as long as I can remember. I grew up in the heart of Ag. land. They came to pick crops, sent the money back to their families in Mexico. No  kids of the migrants enrolled in school. Now....they are no longer only in the fields, they have taken over all warehouse, farming, construction and slaughterhouse jobs. And....they have taken their families with them to live here.

 

The area I grew up in is like I said was all farming and orchards. At that time they came to pick the crops and moved on to the next crop, they didn't settle down and live there permanently. When season was over they went back to Mexico. I worked on a large dairy through my teen years and not a single illegal working there. Now, illegals do all the work on dairies. 

 

The citizens of the US are not entirely blameless in all this because the younger generation have become so lazy with a sense of entitlement that they feel manual labor is beneath them. But then these jobs that used to provide a decent living no longer pay enough to provide a decent standard of life.

14 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signed a memo on Friday authorizing the deployment of up to 4,000 National Guard troops. The memo said the troops "will not perform law enforcement activities or interact with migrants."

That's about 2 troops per mile of the border, will make about as much difference as tossing a stone in the sea. 

Hopping the wall into Trump's US, in under 2 minutes

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hopping-wall-trumps-us-under-2-minutes-011932671.html

 

It seems there must be a easier way.How about legally through the front door!That takes to long !

The border crossers are not Americans, and they do not need councillng, they need deporting!

 Charge them en mass, finger print them all, children included, then push them back into the south

part of Mexico so they are close to their home countries.

Geezer