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75 bipartisan former U.S. attorneys call on Sessions to end family separations
Source: Politico
By LOUIS NELSON 06/19/2018 07:39 AM EDT
A bipartisan group of 75 former U.S. attorneys slammed the Trump administration policy of separating children from parents who take them illegally across the border, arguing in a letter posted online Monday that it traumatizes children and robs current U.S. attorneys of the agency they need to prioritize more important prosecutions.
“Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is, in our view, sufficient reason to halt your policy,” the former U.S. attorneys wrote in their letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “But as former U.S. Attorneys, we know that the collateral consequences of this ill-advised approach ultimately render us less safe as a nation… It is a simple matter of fact that the time a Department attorney spends prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry cases, may be time he or she does not spend investigating more significant crimes.”
The letter noted that the group had served under presidents of both parties.
Outcry and bipartisan criticism has exploded in recent days over the Trump administration’s policy of prosecuting all illegal border-crossers, a step that has prompted the separation of parents, who are taken to adult criminal detention centers, and their children, who cannot accompany them and are therefore taken to child-only centers.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/trump-family-separations-outcry-reaction-653305
Dear Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions:
We write as former United States Attorneys who have served under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. Like the majority of Americans, we have been horrified by the images and stories of children torn from their families along our nation’s Southwest Border. And like a majority of Americans, we are appalled that your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children. But as former United States Attorneys, we also emphasize that the Zero Tolerance policy is a radical departure from previous Justice Department policy, and that it is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served.
When parents and their children arrive at our border, particularly when they come seeking the protection of the United States under our asylum laws, we witness a universal story of humanity: parents willing to face all odds to protect their children. Every administration for decades has grappled with the complexities inherent in families illegally crossing our borders. Until now, every administration has chosen a path that has balanced the need for effective enforcement and deterrence with humanity and compassion. This balanced approach is especially critical when we are faced with persons seeking entry who may be eligible under established U.S. laws for the protection of asylum, as they flee persecution, horrific violence, or danger in their home countries.
In the name of deterring illegal immigration, your Zero Tolerance policy abandons that balance. Instead, your new Zero Tolerance policy requires federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas, and Southern Texas to depart from a decades-long approach — approved by Republican and Democratic Administrations alike — for charging illegal immigrants. Under your policy, federal prosecutors in those Districts must charge, arrest and detain the individual in each and every “illegal entry” case under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). “Illegal entry” constitutes a misdemeanor — a crime that has a maximum punishment of only a year in jail.
In our experience, U.S. Attorneys under both Republican and Democratic administrations have for decades been given discretion to determine how and when to charge misdemeanor illegal entry cases to address the needs of their districts. Crucially, the Department of Justice has also worked to ensure that families apprehended while attempting to enter the country illegally are treated with compassion, are detained together whenever possible, receive expedited deportation, are allowed to remain together pending an asylum determination, and are always reunited. Now, under your policy, because children cannot accompany their arrested parents to an adult criminal detention center, these children, apparently including infants and toddlers, are routinely separated from their parents. Under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent-less children — who often do not speak English — are transferred to and detained at a tent city, a refashioned Wal-Mart, or other detention facilities in cities like Chicago, thousands of miles away from their parents.
The law does not require the systematic separation of families under these circumstances. Collectively, as former United States Attorneys, we have prosecuted tens of thousands of cases involving far more serious crimes than misdemeanor illegal entry offenses. And even in those far more serious cases, decisions involving the separation of children from their parents were made with extraordinary caution, and only after an evaluation of the specific circumstances of a particular case. Today, by contrast, your Zero Tolerance policy has produced a tragic and unsustainable result, without taking into account each family’s specific circumstances. Under your policy, families and children are greeted with unexpected cruelty at the doorstep of the United States, instead of with relief or asylum in the greatest country in the world. Until now, no Republican or Democratic administration, nor any prior Attorney General, has endangered children in order to deter illegal entry.
Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is, in our view, sufficient reason to halt your policy. But as former U.S. Attorneys, we know that the collateral consequences of this ill-advised approach ultimately render us less safe as a nation. Running a United States Attorney’s Office, or the Department of Justice itself, requires the thoughtful and careful management of limited resources. In short, there are only a finite number of federal prosecutors to address the broad swath of dangerous and illegal activity that takes place in our country.
It is a simple matter of fact that the time a Department attorney spends prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry cases, may be time he or she does not spend investigating more significant crimes like a terrorist plot, a child human trafficking organization, an international drug cartel or a corrupt public official. Under your Zero Tolerance policy, firearms cases, violent crime cases, financial fraud cases, and cases involving public safety on Indian reservations all take a back seat to these lesser, weaker misdemeanor cases. In fact, requiring U.S. Attorneys to bring these misdemeanor cases in every instance detracts from your own stated priority to fight gangs and violent crime by groups such as MS-13.
The combination of unnecessary child trauma and dangerous national security impact is exacerbated by the crushing expense of arresting and detaining every “illegal entry” misdemeanor defendant. At a time when federal prison costs are threatening to blow an unfillable hole in the Department of Justice’s budget, the United States must now bear the cost of detaining parents and their entire families for months as their misdemeanor cases wind through the court system. This fiscal burden also falls on the Department of Homeland Security, whose officers and agents process the parents; federal defenders’ offices who represent them; the Department of Health and Human Services which houses the children; and the already overburdened federal courts which must provide these parents due process and, ultimately, justice.
As former U.S. Attorneys, we know that none of these consequences — nor the policy itself — is required by law. Rather, its implementation and its execution are taking place solely at your direction, and the unfolding tragedy falls squarely on your shoulders. It is time for you to announce that this policy was ill-conceived and that its consequences and cost are too drastic, too inhumane, and flatly inconsistent with the mission and values of the United States Department of Justice. It is time for you to end it. Effective leadership and the integrity of the world’s leading law enforcement agency require nothing less.
Sincerely,
Preet Bharara
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of New York
Daniel Bogden
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nevada
Kenyen Brown
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Alabama
Robert L. Capers
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of New York
Don Cazayoux
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Louisiana
Sanford C. Coats
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Oklahoma
Tristram J. Coffin
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Vermont
Jeffrey Collins
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Michigan
Michael W. Cotter
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Montana
Eileen M. Decker
Former U.S. Attorney
Central District of California
Thomas E. Delahanty II
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Maine
Jenny Durkan
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Washington
Conner Eldridge
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Arkansas
Wifredo A. Ferrer
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Florida
Stephanie A. Finley
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Louisiana
Paul J. Fishman
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Jersey
Deborah R. Gilg
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nebraska
Booth Goodwin
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of West Virginia
Barry Grissom
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Kansas
Melinda Haag
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
Richard Hartunian
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of New York
Kerry B. Harvey
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Kentucky
Timothy Heaphy
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Virginia
Thomas B. Heffelfinger
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Minnesota
David Hickton
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Pennsylvania
Dwight W. Holton
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Oregon
Roscoe C. Howard, Jr.
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
David Iglesias
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Mexico
William Ihlenfeld II
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of West Virginia
Brendan V. Johnson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of South Dakota
John P. Kacavas
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Hampshire
Bill Killian
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Tennessee
Nicholas A. Klinefeldt
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Iowa
Kathryn Landreth
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nevada
Jim Lewis
Former U.S. Attorney
Central District of Illinois
Karen Loeffler
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Alaska
Ronald Machen
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
Neil H. MacBride
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Kenneth Magidson
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Texas
Pamela C. Marsh
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Florida
Jerry Martin
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Tennessee
Damon Martinez
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Mexico
John McKay
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Washington
Barbara L. McQuade
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Michigan
Eric Miller
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Vermont
Michael J. Moore
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Georgia
Florence Nakakuni
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Hawaii
Peter F. Neronha
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Rhode Island
Bill Nettles
Former U.S. Attorney
District of South Carolina
Charles M. Oberly III
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Delaware
Kris Olson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Oregon
Wendy J. Olson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Idaho
Carmen Ortiz
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Massachusetts
Channing Phillips
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
Kenneth A. Polite
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Louisiana
Timothy Q. Purdon
Former U.S. Attorney
District of North Dakota
Ripley Rand
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of North Carolina
Carole S. Rendon
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Ohio
Betty Hansen Richardson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Idaho
Chuck Rosenberg
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Kevin V. Ryan
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
Patrick M. Ryan
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Oklahoma
Sarah Saldana
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Texas
Edward L. Stanton, III
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Tennessee
Donald K. Stern
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Massachusetts
Carter M. Stewart
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Ohio
Edward J. Tarver
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Georgia
Kevin W. Techau
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Iowa
Anne Tompkins
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of North Carolina
Joyce White Vance
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Alabama
John Vaudreuil
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Wisconsin
Benjamin Wagner
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of California
Thomas Walker
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of North Carolina
John Walsh
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Colorado
Daniel G. Webber
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Oklahoma
###
https://medium.com/@formerusattorneys/bipartisan-group-of-former-united-states-attorneys-call-on-sessions-to-end-child-detention-e129ae0df0cf
We write as former United States Attorneys who have served under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. Like the majority of Americans, we have been horrified by the images and stories of children torn from their families along our nation’s Southwest Border. And like a majority of Americans, we are appalled that your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children. But as former United States Attorneys, we also emphasize that the Zero Tolerance policy is a radical departure from previous Justice Department policy, and that it is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served.
When parents and their children arrive at our border, particularly when they come seeking the protection of the United States under our asylum laws, we witness a universal story of humanity: parents willing to face all odds to protect their children. Every administration for decades has grappled with the complexities inherent in families illegally crossing our borders. Until now, every administration has chosen a path that has balanced the need for effective enforcement and deterrence with humanity and compassion. This balanced approach is especially critical when we are faced with persons seeking entry who may be eligible under established U.S. laws for the protection of asylum, as they flee persecution, horrific violence, or danger in their home countries.
In the name of deterring illegal immigration, your Zero Tolerance policy abandons that balance. Instead, your new Zero Tolerance policy requires federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas, and Southern Texas to depart from a decades-long approach — approved by Republican and Democratic Administrations alike — for charging illegal immigrants. Under your policy, federal prosecutors in those Districts must charge, arrest and detain the individual in each and every “illegal entry” case under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). “Illegal entry” constitutes a misdemeanor — a crime that has a maximum punishment of only a year in jail.
In our experience, U.S. Attorneys under both Republican and Democratic administrations have for decades been given discretion to determine how and when to charge misdemeanor illegal entry cases to address the needs of their districts. Crucially, the Department of Justice has also worked to ensure that families apprehended while attempting to enter the country illegally are treated with compassion, are detained together whenever possible, receive expedited deportation, are allowed to remain together pending an asylum determination, and are always reunited. Now, under your policy, because children cannot accompany their arrested parents to an adult criminal detention center, these children, apparently including infants and toddlers, are routinely separated from their parents. Under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent-less children — who often do not speak English — are transferred to and detained at a tent city, a refashioned Wal-Mart, or other detention facilities in cities like Chicago, thousands of miles away from their parents.
The law does not require the systematic separation of families under these circumstances. Collectively, as former United States Attorneys, we have prosecuted tens of thousands of cases involving far more serious crimes than misdemeanor illegal entry offenses. And even in those far more serious cases, decisions involving the separation of children from their parents were made with extraordinary caution, and only after an evaluation of the specific circumstances of a particular case. Today, by contrast, your Zero Tolerance policy has produced a tragic and unsustainable result, without taking into account each family’s specific circumstances. Under your policy, families and children are greeted with unexpected cruelty at the doorstep of the United States, instead of with relief or asylum in the greatest country in the world. Until now, no Republican or Democratic administration, nor any prior Attorney General, has endangered children in order to deter illegal entry.
Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is, in our view, sufficient reason to halt your policy. But as former U.S. Attorneys, we know that the collateral consequences of this ill-advised approach ultimately render us less safe as a nation. Running a United States Attorney’s Office, or the Department of Justice itself, requires the thoughtful and careful management of limited resources. In short, there are only a finite number of federal prosecutors to address the broad swath of dangerous and illegal activity that takes place in our country.
It is a simple matter of fact that the time a Department attorney spends prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry cases, may be time he or she does not spend investigating more significant crimes like a terrorist plot, a child human trafficking organization, an international drug cartel or a corrupt public official. Under your Zero Tolerance policy, firearms cases, violent crime cases, financial fraud cases, and cases involving public safety on Indian reservations all take a back seat to these lesser, weaker misdemeanor cases. In fact, requiring U.S. Attorneys to bring these misdemeanor cases in every instance detracts from your own stated priority to fight gangs and violent crime by groups such as MS-13.
The combination of unnecessary child trauma and dangerous national security impact is exacerbated by the crushing expense of arresting and detaining every “illegal entry” misdemeanor defendant. At a time when federal prison costs are threatening to blow an unfillable hole in the Department of Justice’s budget, the United States must now bear the cost of detaining parents and their entire families for months as their misdemeanor cases wind through the court system. This fiscal burden also falls on the Department of Homeland Security, whose officers and agents process the parents; federal defenders’ offices who represent them; the Department of Health and Human Services which houses the children; and the already overburdened federal courts which must provide these parents due process and, ultimately, justice.
As former U.S. Attorneys, we know that none of these consequences — nor the policy itself — is required by law. Rather, its implementation and its execution are taking place solely at your direction, and the unfolding tragedy falls squarely on your shoulders. It is time for you to announce that this policy was ill-conceived and that its consequences and cost are too drastic, too inhumane, and flatly inconsistent with the mission and values of the United States Department of Justice. It is time for you to end it. Effective leadership and the integrity of the world’s leading law enforcement agency require nothing less.
Sincerely,
Preet Bharara
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of New York
Daniel Bogden
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nevada
Kenyen Brown
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Alabama
Robert L. Capers
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of New York
Don Cazayoux
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Louisiana
Sanford C. Coats
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Oklahoma
Tristram J. Coffin
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Vermont
Jeffrey Collins
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Michigan
Michael W. Cotter
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Montana
Eileen M. Decker
Former U.S. Attorney
Central District of California
Thomas E. Delahanty II
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Maine
Jenny Durkan
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Washington
Conner Eldridge
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Arkansas
Wifredo A. Ferrer
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Florida
Stephanie A. Finley
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Louisiana
Paul J. Fishman
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Jersey
Deborah R. Gilg
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nebraska
Booth Goodwin
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of West Virginia
Barry Grissom
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Kansas
Melinda Haag
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
Richard Hartunian
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of New York
Kerry B. Harvey
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Kentucky
Timothy Heaphy
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Virginia
Thomas B. Heffelfinger
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Minnesota
David Hickton
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Pennsylvania
Dwight W. Holton
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Oregon
Roscoe C. Howard, Jr.
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
David Iglesias
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Mexico
William Ihlenfeld II
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of West Virginia
Brendan V. Johnson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of South Dakota
John P. Kacavas
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Hampshire
Bill Killian
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Tennessee
Nicholas A. Klinefeldt
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Iowa
Kathryn Landreth
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Nevada
Jim Lewis
Former U.S. Attorney
Central District of Illinois
Karen Loeffler
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Alaska
Ronald Machen
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
Neil H. MacBride
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Kenneth Magidson
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Texas
Pamela C. Marsh
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Florida
Jerry Martin
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Tennessee
Damon Martinez
Former U.S. Attorney
District of New Mexico
John McKay
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Washington
Barbara L. McQuade
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Michigan
Eric Miller
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Vermont
Michael J. Moore
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of Georgia
Florence Nakakuni
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Hawaii
Peter F. Neronha
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Rhode Island
Bill Nettles
Former U.S. Attorney
District of South Carolina
Charles M. Oberly III
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Delaware
Kris Olson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Oregon
Wendy J. Olson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Idaho
Carmen Ortiz
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Massachusetts
Channing Phillips
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia
Kenneth A. Polite
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Louisiana
Timothy Q. Purdon
Former U.S. Attorney
District of North Dakota
Ripley Rand
Former U.S. Attorney
Middle District of North Carolina
Carole S. Rendon
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Ohio
Betty Hansen Richardson
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Idaho
Chuck Rosenberg
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Kevin V. Ryan
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
Patrick M. Ryan
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Oklahoma
Sarah Saldana
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Texas
Edward L. Stanton, III
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Tennessee
Donald K. Stern
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Massachusetts
Carter M. Stewart
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Ohio
Edward J. Tarver
Former U.S. Attorney
Southern District of Georgia
Kevin W. Techau
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Iowa
Anne Tompkins
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of North Carolina
Joyce White Vance
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Alabama
John Vaudreuil
Former U.S. Attorney
Western District of Wisconsin
Benjamin Wagner
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of California
Thomas Walker
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of North Carolina
John Walsh
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Colorado
Daniel G. Webber
Former U.S. Attorney
Northern District of Oklahoma
###
https://medium.com/@formerusattorneys/bipartisan-group-of-former-united-states-attorneys-call-on-sessions-to-end-child-detention-e129ae0df0cf
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