Current state attorneys general from nearly half the states are urging the Trump administration to end its new “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
“The policy is not only inhumane, but it also raises serious concerns regarding the violation of childrens’ rights, constitutional principles of due process and equal protection,” 21 state AGs wrote in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
In April, Sessions announced that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would immediately prosecute anyone illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. That led to an increasing number of cases in which children are separated from their parents or guardians while the adults are prosecuted for illegal entry.
The attorneys general, led by Hector Balderas of New Mexico and Xavier Becerra of California, said the “draconian practices” need to stop.
“The notion that the government should intrude into the rights of a parent to be with their child has historically been met with extremely high levels of scrutiny,” they wrote. “Thus, the deliberate separation of families for the express purpose of furthering an immigration policy is is contrary to our laws.”
“The practice of mandatory family separation is both inhumane and contrary to the efforts of the law enforcement and others who dedicate their tireless efforts to stopping violent criminals,” they added in a call to “immediately” end the practice.
Sessions is also facing criticisms from a bipartisan group of 75 former federal prosecutors, who called on the attorney general to end the zero-tolerance policy in an open letter published Monday.
[Related: Jeff Sessions uses Bible to defend zero-tolerance border policy to church leaders]
“Like the majority of Americans, we have been horrified by the images and stories of children torn from their families along our nation’s southwest border,” the former U.S. attorneys wrote. “And like a majority of Americans, we are appalled that your zero tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary traumas and suffering of innocent children.”
The former federal prosecutors said the new policy is a “radical departure” from the Justice Department’s previous policies. This new approach, they said, “is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served.”
Th ex-U.S. attorneys from both Republican and Democratic administrations said past presidents have chosen to implement policies that balanced the need for effective immigration enforcement and deterrence with “humanity and compassion.” But the Trump administration’s policy “abandons that balance,” they wrote.
“[Y]our zero tolerance policy has produced a tragic and unsustainable result, without taking into account each family’s specific circumstances. Under your policy, families and children are greeted with unexpected cruelty at the doorstep of the United States, instead of with relief or asylum in the greatest country in the world,” they wrote. “Until now, no Republican or Democratic administration, nor any prior Attorney General, has endangered children in order to deter illegal entry.”
“Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is, in our view, sufficient reason to halt your policy.”
They also warned that the decision to refer illegal border crosses for prosecution causes Justice Department lawyers to spend time prosecuting illegal entry cases rather than investigating child trafficking, terrorism, public corruption, and violent crime by gangs like MS-13.
Prior to Trump’s zero tolerance policy, the only family units that would be broken up were those when the parent-child relationship could not be confirmed or when a child was at risk in the company of the adult. However, now all adults who illegally entered the country between ports of entry rather than at a border checkpoint are being separated from their children in addition to those first two categories that the Obama administration had honored.
