A bipartisan group of over 70 former US Attorneys is urging Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to end the policy of prosecuting all illegal border crossers, calling it expensive, dangerous, and inconsistent with Justice Department values. In a post published on Medium on Tuesday morning, the prosecutors wrote that they were horrified that innocent children have suffered unnecessary suffering and trauma because of the zero-tolerance policy.
Thousands of immigrant minors have been separated from their parents as a consequence of the policy because minors are only allowed to be held in detention for a much shorter time than adults. Officials with the Trump administration say that they do not want to separate families but have nonetheless defended the policy from growing criticism, even among many high-profile members of the Republican Party.
On Monday, Sessions said the administration did not want to see children placed at risk by adults bringing them into the US illegally and that immigrants can go to ports of entry to claim asylum, where they do not face arrest. But, the prosecutors have slammed the policy as ‘ill-conceived’ for its necessity of 100% enforcement with no exceptions.
They note that US attorneys have for decades been allowed discretion under both Democratic and Republican administrations about when and how to lay charges in illegal entry cases and that, as a result of the removal of that discretion, children, including toddlers and infants, are being separated from their parents on a routine basis.