Pirate's Cove

Catch, prosecute, deport

(LA Times) U.S. border authorities, in a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, are planning to introduce a fast-track prosecution program to criminally charge more people who cross the border into California illegally, according to attorneys in San Diego.

Under the program, called Operation Streamline, migrants will be moved through the criminal justice system in group hearings, with cases handled in a matter of hours, from arraignment to sentencing.

Mass prosecutions of up to 100 migrants per day occur in federal districts in Arizona and Texas but would mark a major shift for California’s southern district, based in San Diego, which hasn’t seen expedited judicial proceedings since the border was overrun with illegal immigration decades ago.

Most people who cross illegally into California are not criminally prosecuted, but the numbers would increase substantially under Streamline.

The plans have yet to be finalized, but prosecutors told the committee that they want to charge anywhere from 35 to 100 people per day, including first-time crossers, according to Jeremy Warren, a longtime criminal defense attorney who attended a meeting of the committee Wednesday.

“They want anybody arrested crossing the border to be prosecuted with illegal entry,” Warren said, adding that discussions are still underway on how the court will accommodate the additional cases. Prosecutors want the program to start in one month, he said.

It would probably be easier to simply escort them back across the border, but, there are too many pro-illegal alien folks who will pitch fits over doing that, so, you get the illegals on record, find them guilty, then kick them out (they can actually be charged a small fine under federal law.)

Defense attorneys have long criticized Streamline, saying it sacrifices constitutional due-process protections for speed. With several court appearances combined in one, attorneys have limited time to confer with clients that can be complex, they say.

What’s there to talk about? “Did you come to the U.S. lawfully?” “No.” “OK, bye!”

Essentially, this is all about deterrence, trying to make sure that those who are thinking of coming to the U.S. illegally will reconsider and not jump the border.

Read: Los Federales Plan Mass Prosecutions Of Illegal Border Crossers »

If you get the message out, they will hopefully not come

Sessions defends separating immigrant parents and children: ‘We’ve got to get this message out’

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a vigorous defense of the hard-line Trump administration policy that has resulted in immigrant children being separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally during a lengthy interview on Tuesday.

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who admitted he was “disturbed” by the separations, pressed Sessions repeatedly about the morality and necessity of the familial separations. But the attorney general stood his ground.

“If people don’t want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them,” Sessions said, echoing some of the remarks he made in May when the Justice Department announced that it would begin to prosecuting every person who crossed the border unlawfully, including many seeking asylum. “We’ve got to get this message out. You’re not given immunity.”

And this is also a great example of a biased media spinning like they’re doing dizzy bats, because we can go to the actual transcript the Washington Post’s Eli Rosenberg helpfully provided and see something very pertinent that’s left out of Rosenberg’s article

HH: But General, what I’m pressing on, because I’m disturbed by this. I don’t think children should be separated from biological parents at any age, but especially if they’re infants and toddlers. I think it’s traumatic and terribly difficult on the child. Is it absolutely necessary to do so? Can’t we have facilities where parents remain united with kids?

JS: Well, we can, we’d be glad to work at that, and actually, to keep them as close as possible, and then they’re deported. But the law requires us to keep children in a different facility than we do for adults. And every time somebody, Hugh, gets prosecuted in America for a crime, American citizens, and they go to jail, they’re separated from their children. We don’t want to do this at all. If people don’t want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. We’ve got to get this message out. You’re not given immunity. You have to, you will be prosecuted if you bring, if you come illegally. And if you bring children, you’ll still be prosecuted.

Nor do we, as Sessions points out later, have the capacity/facilities to keep the kids together with the parents. And the kids are transferred to Health and Human services. It’s a simple proposition: don’t come to the U.S. illegally and none of this is a concern. Unaccompanied minors are released “within 72 hours to the “least restrictive” setting possible — usually parents, relatives or ORR-licensed shelters.”

HH: There’s an organization called Kids in Need of Defense, www.supportKIND.org, and they are, they’re liberal activists, but they have a point that these children deserve representation, because many of them are eligible for asylum or refugee status. You’re the chief law enforcement officer. Are you guaranteeing that these 10,000 children have adequate access to legal counsel?

JS: I’m guaranteeing that they’re treated properly and lawfully. But so much of this is not valid, these claims. You just can’t decide you want to come to America regardless, and when you’re not, don’t meet the standards for asylum demand entry to the United States, demand that you appoint lawyers, and demand that you go through prolonged trials. About 20% of the unaccompanied children, come by themselves, that are stopped, are denied immediately. And 80, then the rest go through an asylum process, which is fair and just and takes time. And they get a hearing. And the judges are well aware that they’re young, and they treat them with the proper care and concern. And of the 80% who actually go through asylum processes, only 20% are successful. Most are denied, and many of them have no legitimate claim at all. They were just coming here because they’d like to make more money or for some economic reason.

Most of the asylum and similar claims are complete mule fritters for both the kids and adults. They’re just coming to the U.S.. And we might be more sympathetic if they seemed like they actually wanted to be a part of America, rather than demanding that we give them food, shelter, healthcare, money, education, clothes, change America to the way the illegals want it, not too mention being abusive and rude to America and her citizens.

Read: AG Sessions: If Illegals Do Not Want To Be Separated From Kids, Don’t Come Here Illegally »