Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday refused to back down from his claims that "zero tolerance" policies for illegal immigration are the best way to prevent crime and economic exploitation in the U.S., NBC News reports.
Speaking to immigration judges in Falls Church, Virginia, Sessions defended the Trump administration's hard-line approach as "perfectly legitimate, moral, and decent." The "zero tolerance" policy that he announced earlier this year was partially dismantled after major blowback to the administration's separation of migrant families. Many children are still being held separate from their parents even months after President Trump signed an executive order ending the practice, as adults were uniformly prosecuted for illegal entry.
Sessions said the "zero tolerance" approach was an appropriate way to create consequences for migrants seeking to exploit Obama-era "incentives." But while "a lot of those crossing our borders are leaving a difficult life," he said, "asylum was never meant to provide escape from all the problems people face every day around the world." The attorney general also alleged that migrants lie about fears they face in their home countries in order to remain in the U.S.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"No great and prosperous nation can have both a generous welfare system and great prosperity, and open borders," said Sessions. "Such a policy is radical, it's dangerous." Read more at NBC News.
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Sudan stands on the brink of another national schismThe Explainer With tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, one of Africa’s most severe outbreaks of sectarian violence is poised to take a dramatic turn for the worse
-
‘Not every social scourge is an act of war’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
