SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Latest on Sessions’ visit to California to discuss immigration enforcement (all times local):
3 p.m.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says his zero-tolerance policy against anyone who enters the country illegally may cause parents to be separated from their children.
Sessions, speaking Monday at a border wall separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, said the Homeland Security Department will send every case of illegal entry to federal prosecutors. The parents will be held in custody, while their children may be released to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.
Thomas Homan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s acting director, echoed Sessions, saying the policy will lead to more prosecutions, including parents who must be separated from their children. He denied that that Trump administration has a “blanket policy” to separate families as a way to deter others from trying.
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11:12 a.m.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to refer anyone who enters the United States illegally on the Mexican border to his office for prosecution.
In remarks prepared for a speech Monday at a law enforcement conference in Arizona, Sessions says the Department of Justice will take up as many cases as possible.
He says cases will include people who allegedly smuggle children across the border or who lie to immigration officers.
Sessions says he has sent 35 prosecutors to the region to work on these cases.
The remarks were published on the department’s website as Sessions prepares to hold a news conference in San Diego with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan.
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9:11 a.m.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will discuss immigration enforcement during a Southern California visit.
The Department of Justice says Sessions will hold a news conference Monday afternoon in San Diego.
He’ll be joined by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan.
No other details have been released.
Sessions’ visit comes about a week after hundreds of Central American migrants traveled to the U.S. border seeking asylum following a month-long caravan through Mexico.
President Donald Trump and Cabinet members tracked the caravan and called it proof that more must be done to secure the border with Mexico, including building a wall.
Sessions called the caravan “a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system”.
He pledged to send more immigration judges to the border to resolve cases if needed.
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