BORDER/IMMIGRATION/JEFF SESSIONS/PRISONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has already led to overrun detention facilities, long lines of asylum seekers camping out at the U.S.-Mexico border and a decision to separate young children from their parents indefinitely. Now, the administration is sending more than 1,600 immigrants — including some of those parents — to federal prisons amid a lack of space in other jails. The decision brought immediate denunciation from immigrant rights activists who were already enraged over the policy of separating parents from children. The move comes as an increasing number of families and children have been coming to the border, further straining an immigration system that’s already at capacity. Despite hard-line rhetoric from the White House, more than 50,000 people were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in May alone — many of them families and children — and courts, asylum officers and jails are struggling to keep up with the influx…Attorney General Jeff Sessions insists the policy of separating families is necessary to deter illegal border-crossings, and authorities say the decision to send people to prisons is a temporary one amid a shortage of beds.”
-Gene Johnson, “Critics blast Trump for sending border detainees to prison,” The Associated Press, June 8, 2018 2:30 pm