Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and top Justice Department officials moved forward with a “zero tolerance” immigration policy in 2018 aware that it would forcibly split up families and were unprepared for the impact, according to a new report by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.
Sessions’ office was a “driving force” in pushing for the Department of Homeland Security to begin referring adults who entered the U.S. illegally with children to be prosecuted by the Justice Department, according to the report. The Trump administration policy, which lasted from April to June 2018, resulted in the separation of more than 5,000 families — with hundreds that still have not been reunited.
“We concluded that the Department’s single-minded focus on increasing immigration prosecutions came at the expense of careful and appropriate consideration of the impact of family unit prosecutions and child separations,” the report states.
The inspector general’s office found that Trump administration officials, including Sessions, knew the policy meant separating families — which contradicts the administration’s repeated public claims at the time that it did not have a family separation policy at the border. They also did not plan for the impact it would have on children or the challenges that increased prosecutions would pose for the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. attorneys’ offices and courts.
“DOJ officials were aware of many of these challenges prior to issuing the zero tolerance policy, but they did not attempt to address them until after the policy was issued,” the report said.
In the report, Gene Hamilton, a top Justice official, said the policy was drafted following a White House meeting in which officials made clear the desire to take further action to combat illegal immigration. Hamilton told the inspector general’s office that Sessions “perceived a need to take quick action.” Sessions declined to be interviewed for the report by the inspector general’s office.
Other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, have also issued reports that look at the rollout and negative impact of the zero tolerance policy. However, the new watchdog report further outlines Sessions’ role in the policy and knowledge of issues with it.
President-elect Joe Biden, for his part, has pledged to form a task force that will focus on reuniting the remaining 500-plus children detained at the border with their families. He has previously condemned the policy as “criminal.”
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