The US border agency head said that criminal prosecution of migrant families will cease — for now. The move undoes a key part of Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy, but not all officials seem to be on the same page.
Image: Reuters/J. Elliott
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Parents who try to illegally enter the United States from Mexico with their children will not be handed over to authorities for prosecution for the foreseeable future, the US' top border security agent said on Monday at a Texas processing center.
The announcement marked a significant retreat on a main element of Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which calls for every undocumented individual caught crossing into the US to be charged criminally, even if the person is requesting asylum.
The announcement also added to the confusion over Trump's immigration policy, which he was forced to modify in the past week, as statements from other White House officials on the prosecution suspension appeared to contradict one another.
No more prosecution of parents
Kevin McAleenan, the Customs and Border Protection commissioner told AP news agency and The New York Times that that migrant parents would not be delivered to criminal authorities until the US could figure out how to prosecute the adults without having to separate them from their children.
Only if the parents or guardians had a criminal history or the child's welfare was in question would the parents face prosecution, McAleenan said.
Kevin McAleenan heads the Customs and Border Protection agencyImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. J. Phillip
As part of the "zero-tolerance" policy, Trump had ordered that families be separated upon crossing the border so that the parents could be prosecuted. The president was forced to end this order last week following a bi-partisan, global outcry over the issue, but not before more than 2,000 children had been taken away from the parents.
Many still remain separated. The White House has yet to provide a plan for having them reunited.
The return of catch-and-release
McAleenan said that the Customs and Border Protection stopped sending adults for prosecution just hours after Trump reversed his family-separation policy. Instead, the decision seems to indicate a revival of the "catch-and-release," a process much maligned by the Trump administration that sees undocumented families released into the US until they are called to appear in court.
Despite the fact that the suspension of prosecutions abandons Trump's call to blanket prosecute all border crossers, McAleen insisted that the "zero-tolerance" policy remained intact.
The border commissioner also said that his agency and the Justice Department should come up with a policy "where adults who bring their kids across the border — who violate our law and risk their lives at the border — can be prosecuted without an extended separation from their children."
Mexican deportees return to home city they never knew
Under President Donald Trump more and more undocumented migrants are being deported. Many of them have spent half their lives in the US. Every week three planes of deportees arrive in Mexico City. Sanne Derks reports.
Image: DW/S. Derks
A bitter arrival
The planes arrive at a special gate at Mexico City airport. These undocumented migrants are deported from the detention centers in the US in handcuffs and put on planes. Twenty minutes before landing they are released.
Image: DW/S. Derks
Illegal alien
George Niño de la Riviera found out he was living illegally in the US when he turned 18 and applied for a job. He was told he did not have a social security number. He was taken to the US by his parents when he was a baby and grew up there. Five months ago he was deported, having spent the last 34 years in America. His four children are living with his ex-wife in Fresno.
Image: DW/S. Derks
A foreign country
Maria Herrera, 27, was deported on April 10. She was waiting for the renewal of her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) visa when she got involved in a car crash. She was arrested and taken to jail where she was detained for two months, before being deported. She was three years old when she left Mexico — a country that is totally foreign to her.
Image: DW/S. Derks
Starting from scratch
She met George at New Comienzos, a non-profit organization that assists repatriated people, and they started dating. "It's great to have a special friend who went through all of this too," she told DW. Neither of them knew anything about Mexico. While in detention Maria suffered depression and anxiety attacks. Now they're trying to find their way around Mexico City.
Image: DW/S. Derks
Detained and deported
As a result of a fight he had in 2003 with an ex-girlfriend, Diego Miguel Maria, 37, was arrested and then deported in 2016.
Image: DW/S. Derks
"Dump Trump and his wall"
Along with five other recently deported Mexicans, he was able to qualify for funding from the Mexican government to start a textile printing press. They call their brand Deportados and print statements on bags and T-shirts like: "Dump Trump and his wall."
Image: DW/S. Derks
A helping hand
Diego's job won't make him rich, but it allows him time to volunteer and help new deportees at the airport. "I felt so lost when I got through that door. I think it is important to guide those who are in the same shoes," he told DW. The most difficult part was leaving his son behind, who lived with him before he was deported. His ex-wife doesn't allow him to maintain contact with his son.
Image: DW/S. Derks
Starting over
Daniel Sandovan was deported in February, but appears relaxed about it. "In America I could never really invest in a future, because I had no documents. What use is an education if nobody is going to hire? Here in Mexico I have the possibility to start over. I will be able to have a wife and children without fear of losing them," he told DW.
Image: DW/S. Derks
Settling in
Daniel lives in a home for refugees above the Deportados Brand print shop. A pastor in his church organized his initial stay with a 75-year-old woman who picked him up from the bus station in Mexico City. "I stayed [with her] for two weeks, painted the house, and then I contacted Deportados Brand, after I heard that they help migrants in the detention center. Now I live here with two others."
Image: DW/S. Derks
Looking on the bright side
Although most of them do not know where they'll be sent and worry that they could lose everything in a split second, the upheaval doesn't always end badly. "It feels like my life in the States was overshadowed by fear and sadness because of my legal status. Now there's less of a burden, as I am finally free and I feel at home," Maria told DW.
Image: DW/S. Derks
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Mixed signs – still
McAleenan was not the only administration official to comment Monday on border prosecutions, however, and the various messages created a confusing and contradictory picture on the state of the "zero-tolerance" policy.
McAleenan's announcement came shortly after the head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, insisted that the "zero-tolerance" policy remained in full effect. He also claimed that many children were brought illegally to the US by violent gang members, echoing rhetoric used by the president.
"The president has made this clear: We are going to prosecute those adults who came here illegally," Sessions said during a speech in Reno.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there had been no official change in the "zero-tolerance" policy, but admitted to the inability to enforce it due to limited resources.
"We're working with Congress, hopefully, to provide more resources and the ability to actually enforce the law," she said, according to The New York Times.
