Immigration Law
Some Federal Courthouses Swamped With ‘Crimmigration’ Cases
Posted Jul 17, 2008, 11:58 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Federal courthouses in Texas and other border states are swamped with prosecutions for illegal border crossings.
Immigration cases accounted for 58 percent of new federal prosecutions in April, the Dallas Morning News reports. The new cases are the result of a zero-tolerance policy designed to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants.
If present trends continue, immigration-related prosecutions in the Western District of Texas for fiscal 2008 will be almost nine times the number last year, the story says.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff explained the reason for the policy in a speech last month. "These illegal migrants come to realize that violating the law will not simply send them back to try over again, but will require them to actually serve some short period of time in a jail or prison setting,” he said.
Some lawyers have labeled the policy "crimmigration," according to the article. Chertoff’s agency credits the policy for producing a 17 percent drop in border arrests so far this year.
A hat tip to Criminal Justice Journalists.
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