Jeff Sessions: Families entering U.S. illegally will be split up

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday the Trump administration is splitting up all undocumented parents and children who cross the border together, with the parents immediately sent to detention centers and federal court.

"If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law," Sessions said during a law enforcement conference in Arizona. "If you don't like that, then don't smuggle children over our border." He also said there's a "massive influx" of people crossing the southwest border, "but we're not going to stand for this."

The children will go to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and then either placed with relatives in the United States or private shelters. The Department of Homeland Security reports that since October, 700 kids have been split up from their parents. The children of parents who seek asylum at the border will not be separated, administration officials told NBC News.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up