Thread: Criminal charges for illegals first time caught crossing the border illegally

Trump immigration policies take root in Tucson federal court

• By Curt Prendergast Arizona Daily Star
• June 29, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago

Under Operation Streamline, defendants accept plea agreements and get sentenced — all within a few hours.

• Lawrence Gipe 2013

A fast-track prosecution program is growing as the Trump administration’s immigration policies take root at the federal courthouse in Tucson.

In a reversal of Obama administration policy, federal prosecutors with Operation Streamline are filing criminal charges against migrants the first time they are caught crossing the border illegally.

For the past several years, Streamline prosecutions were focused on people caught multiple times, defense lawyers said this week. However, first-time offenders were regularly prosecuted for a few years after Streamline was established in Tucson in 2008.

The newest policy change began several weeks ago and followed memos from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions directing prosecutors to find ways to deter “first-time improper entrants.”

The change also came after Streamline prosecutions in Tucson dwindled in the past year from about 70 each weekday to barely a handful, defense lawyers said. Prosecutions of those caught the first time, who lawyers said used to be returned to their country of origin, are helping raise the volume of cases.

First-time crossers make up an increasingly large portion of Border Patrol apprehensions in the agency’s Tucson Sector, according to fingerprint identification records provided by the Border Patrol. The portion of Tucson sector apprehensions involving repeat offenders dropped from 45 percent in fiscal year 2000 to 15 percent in fiscal year 2015, when agents made a total of 64,000 apprehensions.

“Before, so many people with previous deportations qualified (for Streamline), that first-timers were arrested and voluntarily returned,” said defense lawyer Homero Torralba.

“The number of people with previous deportations is way down,” he said, adding that he saw a “real dip about three months ago” in the volume of Streamline cases.

At a Streamline hearing on Tuesday, a dozen lawyers flitted among the 48 men and five women accused of crossing the border illegally. Hours earlier, the defendants had pleaded guilty to illegal entry. They faced a maximum sentence of six months and a $5,000 fine.

More than half of the defendants on Tuesday were first-time offenders who were caught by the Border Patrol several days before. On Wednesday, 24 illegal border crossers who were caught for the first time and 14 who were caught multiple times were sentenced.

Magistrate Judge Bruce G. MacDonald on Tuesday and Wednesday waived the fine for all the first-time offenders, sentenced them to time served, and wished them good luck.

However, he warned them that the misdemeanor conviction was a mark on their record and if they were caught crossing the border illegally again, they would face a felony prosecution and years in prison.


In general, other judges also are sentencing first-time defendants to time served, said Grant Bashore, an assistant federal public defender.

The rest of the defendants on Tuesday and Wednesday were charged with both illegal entry and illegal re-entry, due to previous deportations. As has happened in Streamline cases for several years, they pleaded guilty to the illegal entry charge — which is a misdemeanor — and the judge dismissed the felony re-entry charge. They received sentences ranging from 30 days to the program’s maximum 180 days.

Thousands of illegal immigrants have been sentenced through Streamline, but exact numbers are unavailable. Over the course of several weeks of Arizona Daily Star inquiries, the federal court system referred questions to the Department of Justice, which referred them to the Border Patrol, which referred them to the Department of Justice.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona could not be reached and the Border Patrol did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecuting first-time crossers is a return to the original operation of the program in Tucson. The priorities shifted under the Obama administration and Streamline defendants generally were those who had been deported previously and faced a felony charge of illegal re-entry. In some cases, first-time offenders with serious criminal histories also were included.

http://tucson.com/news/local/trump-i...0249a05f0.html

As has happened in Streamline cases for several years, they pleaded guilty to the illegal entry charge — which is a misdemeanor — and the judge dismissed the felony re-entry charge. They received sentences ranging from 30 days to the program’s maximum 180 days.

Huh???

. . . he warned them that the misdemeanor conviction was a mark on their record and if they were caught crossing the border illegally again, they would face a felony prosecution and years in prison.

by JOHN BINDER
5 Jul 2017
Tuscon, AZ

President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed lax immigration prosecution measures put in place by former President Obama.

Under Operation Streamline, a fast-track prosecution program for illegal alien border-crossers will seek criminal prosecution for first-time border-crossers.

During the Obama years, only repeat border-crossers were prosecuted as criminals under Operation Streamline.

Now, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice seek to deter first-time illegal crossers.

Previously, first-time border-crossers were deported to their native countries. Under Trump, those illegal aliens are being prosecuted, alongside repeat offenders, as Tuscon.com notes:

At a Streamline hearing on Tuesday, a dozen lawyers flitted among the 48 men and five women accused of crossing the border illegally. Hours earlier, the defendants had pleaded guilty to illegal entry. They faced a maximum sentence of six months and a $5,000 fine.

More than half of the defendants on Tuesday were first-time offenders who were caught by the Border Patrol several days before. On Wednesday, 24 illegal border crossers who were caught for the first time and 14 who were caught multiple times were sentenced.

For the first-time border-crossers, they are being convicted with misdemeanors. If they illegally re-enter, they will be hit with felony charges.

Trump and Sessions’ return to using Operation Streamline to deter all illegal aliens from entering the U.S. is a break from the policies of Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

As Breitbart News reported at the time, Holder halted prosecutions of illegal aliens pursuant to Operation Streamline at the Yuma, Arizona sector of the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...rder-crossers/

Hell yes! You enter our country illegally, it's a crime every time, first time, second time, all the time.

GO TRUMP!!

Now FAST TRACK the minor's over into the care and custody of THEIR Embassy for deportation...right into the hands of their President.

All pregnant women deported immediately...end anchor baby scam now.

If we had lost children in another country...do they get handed over to American Embassy?

This is what I looked for from Trump when I voted for him. It's finally happening. Now its just a question of hunting down those who managed to make it here and settle. These are just the ones they catch at the border.

The interior enforcement is much harder, so many to deport, takes so long to get it all set up, but they're plugging away at it. Really need the state and local law enforcement agencies to engage and get involved. They could have this problem solved in 18 months with really very little effort on their part. Law enforcement wants the support of the public and the public does support them. Time for law enforcement to give US a little support in return solving a HUUUGE problem.

Originally Posted by Judy

The interior enforcement is much harder, so many to deport, takes so long to get it all set up, but they're plugging away at it. Really need the state and local law enforcement agencies to engage and get involved. They could have this problem solved in 18 months with really very little effort on their part. Law enforcement wants the support of the public and the public does support them. Time for law enforcement to give US a little support in return solving a HUUUGE problem.

Yeah, we need to end the sanctuary city scam. And speaking of sanctuary cities, I saw on the news earlier that here in Chicago they're getting ready to give ID cards to illegals, and the information from these cards will be HIDDEN from the government (Yeah, they actually had the nerve to say that on tv, about how they're helping to break the law). I've been procrastinating leaving this hellhole Chicago because of some business I still need to finish, but I have to get the hell out of here before I have an ulcer. This sh***y city gives more rights to illegals than it gives to it's citizens. It's like they're tying our hands behind our back while allowing illegals to rape us, rob us and steal our jobs and lower our wages. I have to get off this ship before it finally sinks.

It's just terrible what so many Americans are going through because of illegal immigration. It's just wacko, it's nuts, makes no sense at all, and that's how you know they're all on the take with the cartels behind illegal immigration and getting rich off of it. It's the worst betrayal of a citizenry by its own government in the history of the world.