On April 6, 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to seek criminal charges for all first-time immigration offenses. Though these “improper entry” cases (known as 1325 cases, for their place in the U.S. Code) can be charged as misdemeanors, prosecutors have historically issued civil fines or deportation for these low-level infractions, reserving their limited resources for more serious offenses. But this new policy, which Sessions called “zero-tolerance,” stripped prosecutors' of their discretion to save resources for more pressing public safety threats.
While the outcry over zero-tolerance has died down, the consequences of the policy in the year since its introduction have been nothing short of abysmal. In an attempt to appear “tough on immigration,” the administration's focus on largely nonviolent border-crossers has not only triggered a family separation crisis, it has taken away from prosecutors' ability to focus on more serious crimes, including drug-trafficking and human-smuggling.
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