The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy has the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice vowing to prosecute all immigrants who cross in the United States illegally.
The federal court building in the border city of McAllen, Texas sees dozens of cases of undocumented immigrants charged with illegal entry into the U.S. but contrary to what the Trump administration has led the public to believe, not everyone who has broken the law is being referred for prosecution.
Scenes of undocumented families walking with their children shortly after being released from federal custody continue to this day. It’s referred to as “catch and release,” a practice that the Trump administration says must continue because of loopholes in the current law despite the president’s multiple attempts to end it.
On this day, Central American parents are strapped with ankle monitors and are allowed to join loved ones in the U.S. with the promise of showing up to immigration court in a few weeks, even after the zero tolerance policy was implemented by the DOJ and Homeland Security over a month ago.
“If you cross the southwest border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, promising to prosecute everyone crossing the border illegally.
“It is our policy that anyone crossing the border illegally will be detained and referred for prosecutive,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
This is how it’s supposed to work:
Those who break the law are detained for a few days by Homeland Security for processing before they are referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution. During this time, any parent with an accompanying child would be taken from them and placed in shelters such as “Casa Padre” in Brownsville.
But for most families in the Catholic Respite Center, that’s not the case.
Blanca Tupul, a Guatemalan mother of three, crossed the Rio Grande River three days ago hoping to reunite with her husband in South Carolina. Desperate to give her children the life she never had, Blanca hopes she won’t be deported.
So why are some undocumented parents prosecuted and others not?
The DOJ and Homeland Security say decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and admit that they don’t have the resources to go after everyone.
Homeland Security says it has doubled its referral rate to 60 percent of all illegal crossings to the DOJ in the last month.
So while these agencies mean to implement zero tolerance at 100 percent, it doesn’t mean that 100 percent of those crossing illegally seeking asylum will actually face criminal charges.
They say that the real fix lies with Congress.