The director of U.S. border control has said that migrant parents crossing in from Mexico illegally will for now no longer be referred for prosecution, U.S. media reported, effectively suspending a key plank of the “zero tolerance” policy.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, who made the announcement on Monday to reporters in Texas, and other officials insisted however that the policy remains in effect.
Lack of detention space
Mr. McAleenan said that he stopped referring parents for prosecution shortly after President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order ending the policy of separating families entering the country illegally.
Mr. McAleenan said the reason for suspending prosecution of parents was in fact Mr. Trump’s order and that his agency does not have detention space for all the families coming across the border. “We’re not prosecuting those parents,” Mr. McAleenan said, according to Politico .
According to The New York Times , the official said his agency and the Justice Department should agree on a policy “where adults who bring their kids across the border — who violate our laws and risk their lives at the border — can be prosecuted without an extended separation from their children.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders insisted the zero tolerance policy remained in effect, at least officially. She said the bottom line was the government lacks the means to detain all the families crossing the border. “We’re not changing the policy,” Ms. Sanders said. “We’re simply out of resources.”
