Federal plan would charge all illegal border crossers
Jeremy Roebuck
November 18, 2007 - 2:50PM
McALLEN — The Rio Grande Valley could be the next place to implement a zero-tolerance policy credited with cutting illegal immigration rates by almost 70 percent in other parts of the state.

But critics of the program fear the prosecution of every undocumented migrant caught crossing the border would overwhelm federal prosecutors and crowd local detention centers.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector became the second region in Texas to implement Operation Streamline — a policy that charges all illegal crossers with a federal misdemeanor and arranges for deportation. Second-time offenders face felony charges and jail time.

At a press conference announcing the policy, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, suggested that federal authorities have already begun discussing expanding the program downriver.

“We’re looking at how this works in the Laredo sector and then we’ll see what comes next,â€