Sessions: Zero-Tolerance Policy May Split Families at Border
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero-tolerance immigration policy Monday in San Diego and vowed that all caught crossing into the country illegally would be prosecuted, even if it leads to the separation of parents and their children. Children who are separated from their parents would be put under supervision of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, he stated.
Sessions said he wanted to send a message to the world that the U.S. would not be overwhelmed “by illegals stampeding our country.” He added that even those who claim political asylum will be prosecuted if they do not follow the proper procedure for entry. “If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,” Sessions stated.
President Trump Suggests U.S. “Close Up” to Stop Immigrants
President Donald Trump criticized U.S. immigration policies during a business roundtable in Cleveland.
Trump said people entering the U.S. illegally are taking advantage of “catch-and-release” policies and don’t show up for their immigration court dates. He stated: “We may have to close up our country to get this straight.” President Trump said the U.S. has “thousands” of immigration judges, adding, “Do you think other countries have judges,” seeming to imply that they have no need for them.
He reiterated his call to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and said Mexico should have done more to prevent a large group of Central American migrants from reaching the U.S. border last month.
House GOP Members Are Trying to Force Immigration Vote
A group of House Republicans is now trying to use a procedural maneuver to force the House to vote on immigration legislation.
Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Jeff Denham, and Will Hurd filled a discharge petition Wednesday. If they convince a majority of the members of the House to sign on, they can force a vote on their bill that allows what’s known as a “Queen of The Hill ” vote on four separate immigration bills: A more conservative immigration bill sponsored by Reps. The “Queen of The Hill ” is the bill that receives the most votes, and that would be the one to advance to the Senate.
If all 193 Democrats sign the petition, it would take just 25 Republicans to force a vote. A Democratic leadership aide said Democrats are giving the Republicans space to sign on and show their commitment to the issue before adding their signatures, but all Democrats are committed to debating DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) legislation on the floor.
Jeff Sessions Talks About Immigration Enforcement in San Diego
The Department of Justice announced Sunday that Sessions would hold a news conference Monday afternoon in San Diego. He was joined by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan.
Sessions’ visit comes about a week after hundreds of Central American migrants traveled to the U.S. border seeking asylum following a month-long caravan. President Donald Trump and Cabinet members have tracked the caravan and called it proof that more must be done to secure the border with Mexico, including building a wall.
Sessions called the caravan “a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system,” pledging to send more immigration judges to the border to resolve cases if needed.
Trump Fumes at Homeland Security Chief Over Immigration
President Donald Trump unloaded on Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, at a heated cabinet meeting this week, railing against her for failing to stop illegal border crossings.
Trump, who has growing increasingly frustrated by a spike in apprehensions at the border and other legal setbacks, blamed Nielsen Wednesday for failing to do enough to stop them, according to people familiar with the exchange. Nielsen, one person said, tried to explain the issues were complex and that the department’s powers were limited by a slew of legal restrictions. She told the president her team was doing everything it could, but the president was left unconvinced.
Nielsen did not deny the meeting had grown heated in a statement Thursday evening, but said she shared the president’s frustrations. “The President is rightly frustrated that existing loopholes and the lack of Congressional action have prevented this administration from fully securing the border and protecting the American people. I share his frustration,” she said in a statement
Texas’s Sanctuary City Ban Has Trapped Immigrants in Terror
Many local police departments opposed the anti-sanctuary measure pushed by Republican legislators and Governor Greg Abbott because they predicted that the immigrant community would become too fearful to report crimes, but they have had no choice but to follow the letter of the law. Austin, the state capital and a liberal mecca that prides itself on welcoming immigrants, has been the city most clearly caught in the middle. Local officials and organizations are struggling to rebuild ties with the wary immigrant community, but the truth is they can’t shield undocumented people from deportation.
There has been no documented benefit to public safety in Texas as Governor Abbott pledged, but some police departments have taken note instead of a disturbing decrease in crime reporting by Latinos. Most notably, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo reported a 42.8% decrease in rape reporting by Latinos in the first three months of 2017, which he attributed to fears stirred by the law.
“Even if we live in a community that’s a welcoming community, the reality is we live in state that’s hostile to immigrants,” said Angela-Jo Touza-Medina, longtime chair of the Immigrant Services Network of Austin, a group of service providers serving the immigrant community.
ACLU Sues for Immigration Enforcement Records
The American Civil Liberties Uniono (ACLU) of Vermont is joining affiliates in Maine and New Hampshire to sue for immigration enforcement records. The nonprofit organization is demanding records immigrations agencies about alleged civil rights violations.
According to the ACLU complaint, in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, immigration agents arrested more than 41,000 people, an increase of nearly 38% over the same period the previous year.
Trump Administration Overruled U.S. Embassy Officials to End Immigration Program
U.S. embassy officials in El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti spent months warning Washington that ending temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants would harm those people, all three countries, and the “U.S. national interest.”
The Trump administration ignored the objections and has been ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program anyway, according to a report prepared by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and obtained by USA TODAY. And in each case, the cables warned of possible backlash from the host governments that would likely limit their willingness to cooperate with U.S. officials on illegal immigration, anti-drug operations and other regional problems.
Complicating things is the fact that TPS holders have given birth to 273,000 children while in the U.S., making them U.S. citizens, according to the Center for Migration Studies. That means their parents will have to decide whether to return to their home country with their U.S. citizen children in tow, return to their home country alone and leave their children behind, or stay in the U.S. and face the constant threat of deportation.
32 In Custody in Iowa Immigration Raid
Federal immigration officials have raided a precast concrete manufacturing plant in southeastern Iowa.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman says officials took 32 people at Midwest Precast Concrete in Mount Pleasant into custody Wednesday on suspicion of immigration violations. The agency says those detained came from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
Speaker Paul Ryan Eyes Immigration Bill Before November Elections
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said he wants a bipartisan immigration bill enacted before November congressional elections by addressing young illegal “Dreamer” immigrants as well as border security issues.
“I want to fix this problem, so I would like to have an immigration vote before the midterms,” Ryan told a news conference,
His comments came a day after a breakaway group of House Republicans attempted to force action on legislation protecting so-called Dreamers from deportation.
