A group of 12 Republican senators, spearheaded by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, are urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cease separating families attempting to enter the U.S. between ports of entry, amid widespread backlash to the Trump administration’s new zero tolerance policy to prosecute all illegal immigrants.
“The current family separation crisis has multiple contributing causes, including court decisions that require release rather than detention of children but not parents who enter our country illegally,” the senators wrote. “But the immediate cause of the crisis is your Department’s recent institution of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy under which all adults who enter the United States illegally are referred for prosecution, regardless of whether they are accompanied by minor children.”
