Posted on 06/11/2018 5:39:26 AM PDT by reaganaut1
MCALLEN, Texas— Norma Leticia Ulloa Montoya was arrested after rafting across the Rio Grande with her sons and illegally entering the U.S. A day later, she was sent to federal court here, separated from her children, 9 and 6 years old. It was unclear when she would see them again.
Ms. Ulloa joined more than 70 other migrants in a crowded courtroom in this South Texas city, including about a dozen other Central American parents. They faced misdemeanor charges for illegally entering the U.S., an offense that carries a maximum 6-month jail sentence.
“If one pleads guilty, does one have a right to stay in this country with their babies?” she asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter E. Ormsby through a translator. Judge Ormsby said he didn’t know if she or any other migrant in the courtroom could stay in the U.S., or when they might see their children again.
Her question strikes at the heart of a debate that has emerged after the Trump administration adopted a zero-tolerance policy last month to illegal immigration at the border, pursuing criminal charges against offenders, including parents with minor children. The goal is to slow the number of people trying to sneak across.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others in the Trump administration have said federal law requires them to separate children when their parents are being prosecuted and facing jail time. As a result, several hundred children have been separated from their parents who illegally crossed the border and have been placed in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to federal immigration officials.
“If people don’t want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them,” Mr. Sessions said last week in an interview
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“...this threat of separation was small under the Obama regime.”........
It’s well pat time to send the pending “eviction notice” PRIOR to their illegal entry and potential loss of their off springs.
Try robbing a bank and using “but I’m a parent, and it’s inhumane to separate me from my babies” as a defense in front of a judge. See how well that flies. The hypocrisy is stultifying.
US born criminals are separately from their children also after being arrested. Where is the sympathy?
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