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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDOJ: Trump's immigration crackdown 'diverting' resources from drug cases
Brad Heath, USA TODAY Published 10:44 p.m. ET June 22, 2018 | Updated 11:40 p.m. ET June 22, 2018
Federal prosecutors warned they were diverting resources from drug-smuggling cases in southern California to handle the flood of immigration charges brought on by the Trump administrations border crackdown, records obtained by USA TODAY show.
Days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed prosecutors to bring charges against anyone who enters the United States illegally, a Justice Department supervisor in San Diego sent an email to border authorities warning that immigration cases will occupy substantially more of our resources. He wrote that the U.S. Attorneys Office there was diverting staff, both support and attorneys, accordingly.
The email, sent by the lawyer who runs the offices major crimes unit, said prosecutors needed to streamline their work on smuggling cases. He said that would mean tight deadlines sometimes just a few hours to produce reports and recordings for those that would land in federal court. Going forward, the lawyer, Fred Sheppard, warned, if agents cant meet that high bar, the case will be declined.
Sessions last month ordered federal prosecutors along the southwest border to bring criminal charges against every adult caught entering the United States illegally, a zero tolerance push meant to deter migrants. Those cases typically are seldom more than symbolic most of the people who are charged are sentenced to no additional jail time and a $10 fee but they have served as the legal basis for separating thousands of children from their parents at the border.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/22/zero-tolerance-immigration-crackdown-diverting-resources-drug-cases/727532002/
riversedge
(70,482 posts)Nuclear Pyle
(51 posts)Repubs will find another dozen social programs to cut, freeing up the money for even more MAGA. (See also, "USA! USA! USA!)