The Wall Street Journal

Migrant families at border are not being prosecuted, U.S. official says

Reuters
A Honduran mother and her 3-year-old daughter seeking asylum wait on the Mexican side of the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge after being denied entry by U.S. officers near Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday.

The nation’s top official in charge of border control said his agency isn’t handing over for prosecution parents who illegally enter the country with their children, an acknowledgment that the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy isn’t being applied universally.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said he ordered a temporary suspension of referrals for prosecution last week, within hours of President Donald Trump’s executive order in which he committed to stop separating families after they are detained.

Meanwhile, Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, acknowledged the Customs and Border Protection policy shift. “We’re not changing the policy. We’re simply out of resources,” she said.

However, the administration’s view on its policy still remained muddled. McAleenan and Attorney General Jeff Sessions insisted on Monday that the administration’s zero-tolerance policy requiring the prosecution of all adults entering illegally remained in effect.

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