Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Wednesday defended the separation of illegal immigrant children from their parents as a “temporary and rare” event that’s aimed at making sure all illegal immigrants are prosecuted.
[Also read: Jeff Sessions uses Bible to defend zero-tolerance border policy to church leaders]
Sessions explained in a USA Today op-ed that for years, the U.S. arrested adults who crossed the border illegally by themselves, but would be left alone if they brought a child with them.
“Word got out about this loophole with predictable results,” he wrote. “The number of aliens illegally crossing with children between our ports of entry went from 14,000 to 75,000 — a fivefold increase — in just the past four years.”
“Ending this blanket immunity means prosecuting adults for illegal entry whether they have children with them or not,” he added. “That is what we are doing at the Department of Justice.”
The Trump administration has been criticized for the policy, which Democrats and even many Republicans say is cruel. In response, the administration has said it too wants to change the law so family can stay together while adult illegal immigrants are prosecuted.
“[W]e will not put the children in jail,” Sessions wrote, referencing current law. “Instead, the children must be cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services, as the law requires.”
Sessions also noted that separations are “temporary and rare” mostly because the “vast majority of children in custody came to this country by themselves.”
Sessions echoed President Trump, who has said he wants an immigration reform bill that boosts border security and builds a wall along parts of the border to prevent people from entering in the first place.
“We do not want to separate parents from their children,” Sessions wrote. “What we want is a safe, lawful system of immigration that would end this question altogether.”
“We want to build a wall to prevent illegal entry. Congress could make that happen quickly — and they should,” he said.
