BORDER/IMMIGRATION/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration plans to step up the prosecution of parents who cross the U.S. border illegally with their children, separating more families in hopes of deterring such crossings, officials said. The policy has been under review since the earliest days of the Trump administration and is part of the agency’s drive to punish people who arrive in the U.S. illegally and deter migrants from applying for asylum. Attorney General Jeff Sessions formally announced the policy in San Diego on Monday [5-7-18] afternoon. ‘I have put in place a zero tolerance policy for our Southwest border. If you cross the border illegally, we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,’ Mr. Sessions said, with protesters demonstrating in the background. In a speech in Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier on Monday, he warned would-be border crossers that if they didn’t want to be separated from their children, ‘don’t bring them across the border illegally.’ He said the Department of Homeland Security would refer all illegal border crossers to the Justice Department for prosecution, and that Justice would take up ‘as many of those cases as humanly possible until we get to 100%.'”
-Laura Meckler and Alicia A. Caldwell, “Stiffened U.S. Approach to Illegal Border Crossings Will Separate Families,” The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2018 5:18 pm