Politico
By Ted Hesson
June 06, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday defended the increase in family separations expected to result from a new Trump administration strategy to prosecute all people suspected of crossing the border illegally.
“We believe every person that enters the country illegally like that should be prosecuted,” Sessions told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, according to a transcript of the interview. “And you can’t be giving immunity to people who bring children with them recklessly and improperly and illegally.”
Democrats have ripped the administration over the past month for what they consider unwarranted family separations. President Donald Trump today repeated his baffling Twitter claim that the policy, announced by Sessions on May 7, was caused by “bad legislation passed by the Democrats.”
In the past, the White House press office, when asked to verify Trump’s baffling claim, has pointed to a 2008 bill that passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by President George W. Bush, a Republican. The 2008 law limited the time that unaccompanied minors may be held in detention centers, and has little apparent bearing on family separation at the border.
Border Patrol is required to transfer unaccompanied children to the custody of HHS within 72 hours, but NBC News reported today that 300 children have been held by the agency beyond that legally mandated time limit. Of those, nearly half were younger than 12 years old.
The attorney general acknowledged the administration has seen an increase in the number of young children classified as unaccompanied minors, but said he had not visited processing centers and shelters.
“I believe for the most part they’re well taken care of,” Sessions said of the children.
Hewitt pressed the attorney general on whether unaccompanied minors have a moral right to an attorney.
“No, I don’t think it’s a moral right,” Sessions said.
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