Thread: Tougher Policy on Some Illegal Crossings

Tougher Policy on Some Illegal Crossings

Friday, March 7, 2008 3:30 PM

EL PASO, Texas -- A U.S. Border Patrol effort aimed at prosecuting more illegal immigrants is being expanded to include parts of far West Texas and southern New Mexico.

Doug Mosier, an agency spokesman in El Paso, said the "zero tolerance" plans cover about 15 miles of border from west El Paso to Santa Teresa, N.M.

Illegal immigrants caught in the zone will either face jail time or be ordered out of the country under the Border Patrol's expedited removal program, Mosier said. In either case, the illegal immigrants will be barred from legally entering the U.S. for up to five years and would face felony charges if they try to cross illegally again.

The Border Patrol has been moving away from its long-standing practice of allowing Mexicans crossing illegally to voluntarily return to their homeland if they don't have a history of illegal crossings.

The first zero-tolerance zone was launched in 2005 in Del Rio, where nearly every illegal immigrant caught along a 210-mile stretch of border is sent to federal court to face criminal charges.

In other zero-tolerance zones, including Tucson, Ariz., only certain illegal immigrants are charged in federal court.

The enforcement operations have been credited with drops in illegal immigrant arrests. But critics contend illegal crossers are simply using more dangerous and remote stretches of the border.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/immigration_z ... 78737.html

The entire U.S.-Mexican border should be a zero-tolerance zone.

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence." Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

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