End 'Operation Streamline': How One Human Rights Disaster is Driving Several More
'The mass criminalization, prosecution, and incarceration of migrants is a human rights disaster—a ineffective, wasteful policy that has failed by every measure.'
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:
- Since 2005, nearly three-quarters of a million people have been prosecuted in our federal courts for the crime of improper migration: 412,240 for improper entry and 317,916 for re-entry. This escalating system of migrant prosecutions is making a significant and growing contribution to mass incarceration, and to overcrowding in our federal prison system.
- We conservatively estimate that just the costs entailed by the jail and prison terms that result from criminal prosecutions for improper entry and re-entry total at least $7 billion since a large share of this tax burden produces increased profits for the country's leading private prison corporations.
- Economic circumstances and family responsibilities overwhelmingly drive improper migration, and there is no convincing evidence that incarceration is a deterrent for people facing these pressures. The resulting human costs to those prosecuted, their families and communities are incalculable.
- The system is not seen as effective by most of the judges and lawyers that participate in the process day in and day out. They say that Operation Streamline and the related felony prosecutions are driven by politics, not by good policy.
"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 Guardian notes 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.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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:
- Since 2005, nearly three-quarters of a million people have been prosecuted in our federal courts for the crime of improper migration: 412,240 for improper entry and 317,916 for re-entry. This escalating system of migrant prosecutions is making a significant and growing contribution to mass incarceration, and to overcrowding in our federal prison system.
- We conservatively estimate that just the costs entailed by the jail and prison terms that result from criminal prosecutions for improper entry and re-entry total at least $7 billion since a large share of this tax burden produces increased profits for the country's leading private prison corporations.
- Economic circumstances and family responsibilities overwhelmingly drive improper migration, and there is no convincing evidence that incarceration is a deterrent for people facing these pressures. The resulting human costs to those prosecuted, their families and communities are incalculable.
- The system is not seen as effective by most of the judges and lawyers that participate in the process day in and day out. They say that Operation Streamline and the related felony prosecutions are driven by politics, not by good policy.
"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 Guardian notes 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:
- Since 2005, nearly three-quarters of a million people have been prosecuted in our federal courts for the crime of improper migration: 412,240 for improper entry and 317,916 for re-entry. This escalating system of migrant prosecutions is making a significant and growing contribution to mass incarceration, and to overcrowding in our federal prison system.
- We conservatively estimate that just the costs entailed by the jail and prison terms that result from criminal prosecutions for improper entry and re-entry total at least $7 billion since a large share of this tax burden produces increased profits for the country's leading private prison corporations.
- Economic circumstances and family responsibilities overwhelmingly drive improper migration, and there is no convincing evidence that incarceration is a deterrent for people facing these pressures. The resulting human costs to those prosecuted, their families and communities are incalculable.
- The system is not seen as effective by most of the judges and lawyers that participate in the process day in and day out. They say that Operation Streamline and the related felony prosecutions are driven by politics, not by good policy.
"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 Guardian notes 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.