SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
The 10-year-old, controversial "Operation Streamline," through which immigrants who cross the border are targeted for criminal prosecution, is wasting taxpayer dollars, tearing apart families, and driving mass incarceration, according to a new report.
The analysis from nonprofit groups Justice Strategies and Grassroots Leadership, released Wednesday in the form of a book (pdf), is based on interviews with judges, public defenders, advocates, activists, former prosecutors, and individuals who have been prosecuted as well as their families. "It was clear from talking to actors throughout this system that it is broken in every way," the report reads.
The San Antonio Express-News explains:
Before its launch, most immigration cases were handled within the civil immigration system. Under Streamline, however, court sessions are collapsed so that large groups of up to 80 immigrants can be convicted and sentenced for improper entry, a misdemeanor, or illegal re-entry, a felony prosecution, all at one time.
According to Grassroots Leadership, the report's key findings include:
"Expanded migrant prosecutions have become the newest contributor to mass incarceration and the sentenced migrants are straining an already massively overcrowded federal prison system," said Judith Greene, report author and director of Justice Strategies. "The mass criminalization, prosecution, and incarceration of migrants is a human rights disaster--a ineffective, wasteful policy that has failed by every measure."
Or, as retired judge Felix Recio, who served as a federal magistrate from 1999-2013 in Brownsville, Texas--across the border from Matamoros, Mexico--said in a press statement (pdf): "The only thing we have done is destroyed the lives of many people whose only crime is a desire to exercise their human rights to feed and care for themselves and their families."
In fact, Recio says in the report, "I don't know what these prosecutions have accomplished other than serving as a rationale for the growth of the government agencies."
Plus, as the Guardiannotes of the nearly 750,000 people who have been prosecuted in federal courts under Streamline, "[t]heir criminal records will likely make them ineligible for any legal path to citizenship."
What's more, the Guardian adds: "Almost as if to underscore the initiative's failure, felony re-entry cases now outnumber those for first time crossers in many federal court districts along the U.S.-Mexico border."
The groups say the power to end the failed operation lies with the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Attorneys in the border districts.
"Just as the Department of Justice has begun to remedy the failed war on drugs, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the U.S. Attorneys of federal court districts at the southern border must take steps to end the inhumane and wasteful mass prosecution and incarceration of migrants," said Bethany Carson, report author and Grassroots Leadership immigration organizer and researcher.
"The movement to end mass incarceration must not leave migrants behind," she declared.
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
The 10-year-old, controversial "Operation Streamline," through which immigrants who cross the border are targeted for criminal prosecution, is wasting taxpayer dollars, tearing apart families, and driving mass incarceration, according to a new report.
The analysis from nonprofit groups Justice Strategies and Grassroots Leadership, released Wednesday in the form of a book (pdf), is based on interviews with judges, public defenders, advocates, activists, former prosecutors, and individuals who have been prosecuted as well as their families. "It was clear from talking to actors throughout this system that it is broken in every way," the report reads.
The San Antonio Express-News explains:
Before its launch, most immigration cases were handled within the civil immigration system. Under Streamline, however, court sessions are collapsed so that large groups of up to 80 immigrants can be convicted and sentenced for improper entry, a misdemeanor, or illegal re-entry, a felony prosecution, all at one time.
According to Grassroots Leadership, the report's key findings include:
"Expanded migrant prosecutions have become the newest contributor to mass incarceration and the sentenced migrants are straining an already massively overcrowded federal prison system," said Judith Greene, report author and director of Justice Strategies. "The mass criminalization, prosecution, and incarceration of migrants is a human rights disaster--a ineffective, wasteful policy that has failed by every measure."
Or, as retired judge Felix Recio, who served as a federal magistrate from 1999-2013 in Brownsville, Texas--across the border from Matamoros, Mexico--said in a press statement (pdf): "The only thing we have done is destroyed the lives of many people whose only crime is a desire to exercise their human rights to feed and care for themselves and their families."
In fact, Recio says in the report, "I don't know what these prosecutions have accomplished other than serving as a rationale for the growth of the government agencies."
Plus, as the Guardiannotes of the nearly 750,000 people who have been prosecuted in federal courts under Streamline, "[t]heir criminal records will likely make them ineligible for any legal path to citizenship."
What's more, the Guardian adds: "Almost as if to underscore the initiative's failure, felony re-entry cases now outnumber those for first time crossers in many federal court districts along the U.S.-Mexico border."
The groups say the power to end the failed operation lies with the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Attorneys in the border districts.
"Just as the Department of Justice has begun to remedy the failed war on drugs, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the U.S. Attorneys of federal court districts at the southern border must take steps to end the inhumane and wasteful mass prosecution and incarceration of migrants," said Bethany Carson, report author and Grassroots Leadership immigration organizer and researcher.
"The movement to end mass incarceration must not leave migrants behind," she declared.
The 10-year-old, controversial "Operation Streamline," through which immigrants who cross the border are targeted for criminal prosecution, is wasting taxpayer dollars, tearing apart families, and driving mass incarceration, according to a new report.
The analysis from nonprofit groups Justice Strategies and Grassroots Leadership, released Wednesday in the form of a book (pdf), is based on interviews with judges, public defenders, advocates, activists, former prosecutors, and individuals who have been prosecuted as well as their families. "It was clear from talking to actors throughout this system that it is broken in every way," the report reads.
The San Antonio Express-News explains:
Before its launch, most immigration cases were handled within the civil immigration system. Under Streamline, however, court sessions are collapsed so that large groups of up to 80 immigrants can be convicted and sentenced for improper entry, a misdemeanor, or illegal re-entry, a felony prosecution, all at one time.
According to Grassroots Leadership, the report's key findings include:
"Expanded migrant prosecutions have become the newest contributor to mass incarceration and the sentenced migrants are straining an already massively overcrowded federal prison system," said Judith Greene, report author and director of Justice Strategies. "The mass criminalization, prosecution, and incarceration of migrants is a human rights disaster--a ineffective, wasteful policy that has failed by every measure."
Or, as retired judge Felix Recio, who served as a federal magistrate from 1999-2013 in Brownsville, Texas--across the border from Matamoros, Mexico--said in a press statement (pdf): "The only thing we have done is destroyed the lives of many people whose only crime is a desire to exercise their human rights to feed and care for themselves and their families."
In fact, Recio says in the report, "I don't know what these prosecutions have accomplished other than serving as a rationale for the growth of the government agencies."
Plus, as the Guardiannotes of the nearly 750,000 people who have been prosecuted in federal courts under Streamline, "[t]heir criminal records will likely make them ineligible for any legal path to citizenship."
What's more, the Guardian adds: "Almost as if to underscore the initiative's failure, felony re-entry cases now outnumber those for first time crossers in many federal court districts along the U.S.-Mexico border."
The groups say the power to end the failed operation lies with the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Attorneys in the border districts.
"Just as the Department of Justice has begun to remedy the failed war on drugs, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the U.S. Attorneys of federal court districts at the southern border must take steps to end the inhumane and wasteful mass prosecution and incarceration of migrants," said Bethany Carson, report author and Grassroots Leadership immigration organizer and researcher.
"The movement to end mass incarceration must not leave migrants behind," she declared.