US military to help prosecute migrant cases

From March to May this year USA apprehended more than 50,000 people per month from crossing illegally across border


Afp June 21, 2018
PHOTO AFP

WASHINGTON: US military lawyers will help civilian prosecutors handle cases against undocumented migrants, the Defence Department said Wednesday, in a rare use of armed forces legal staff.

Under a "zero tolerance" policy, the United States has been arresting every illegal border-crosser but the measure has failed to stop the flow of migrants from impoverished and violent Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as from Mexico.


From March to May this year, more than 50,000 people a month were apprehended for illegally crossing the boundary from Mexico.


Mexico condemns 'inhuman' US separation of migrant families


In a statement, Army Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesperson, said Defence Secretary Jim Mattis approved a request from the Department of Justice "to detail 21 attorneys with criminal trial experience to DOJ for a period of 179 days."


They will be appointed as special assistant United States attorneys and will focus on prosecuting misdemeanour improper entry and felony illegal re-entry cases, Davis said.


NBC's Rachel Maddow reported that the military lawyers will be sent to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.


Growing anti-immigration sentiment in the US


US President Donald Trump reversed course on Wednesday and ordered an end to separation of migrant children from their parents on the US border, after domestic and international outrage, although he insisted his border policy will be just as tough.


Nearly all of the arriving families, and many others, have officially requested asylum, citing the incessant violence in their home countries.

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