Bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys sign letter protesting family separations at border
A bipartisan group of 82 former U.S. attorneys have published a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions objecting to the Trump administration's policy of separating children from parents who illegally cross the border. In the letter, the former U.S. attorneys argue that "the Zero Tolerance policy is a radical departure from previous Justice Department policy, and that it is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served."
The letter says that the administration's policy "requires federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney's Offices in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas, and Southern Texas to depart from a decades-long approach — approved by Republican and Democratic Administrations alike — for charging illegal immigrants."
It notes that in the past U.S. attorneys were given discretion in how to approach illegal border crossings, which have previously been treated as misdemeanor offenses, but that the administration's policy requires that everyone who crosses the border must be charged, arrested, and prosecuted. This, the letter argues, takes resources away from prosecuting more serious crimes, while at the same time inflicting unnecessary trauma on migrant families.
"Running a United States Attorney's Office, or the Department of Justice itself, requires the thoughtful and careful management of limited resources," it says. "In short, there are only a finite number of federal prosecutors to address the broad swath of dangerous and illegal activity that takes place in our country...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 U.S. attorneys go on to argue that the law does not require families to be separated. The administration, however, has repeatedly insisted that its hands are tied and that enforcing the law requires some separation of minors from adults.
"Crucially, the Department of Justice has also worked to ensure that families apprehended while attempting to enter the country illegally are treated with compassion, are detained together whenever possible, receive expedited deportation, are allowed to remain together pending an asylum determination, and are always reunited," the letter states.
"Now, under your policy, because children cannot accompany their arrested parents to an adult criminal detention center, these children, apparently including infants and toddlers, are routinely separated from their parents."
Signatories to the letter include Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a prominent critic of President Trump.