Trump on undocumented immigrants: 'These aren't people. These are animals.'

[Belsnickel]

(06-19-2018, 11:37 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Any asylum seeker should enter this country at a legal point of entry and request asylum. You cross the border illegally, regardless of the reason, you have broken the law and must face the consequences. This whole thing is just more of we shouldn't force people to obey the law and look to blame anyone else except for the person that is committing the crime.

Once word gets around that you cannot cross illegally and not be detained, more people will try to access this country through legal means. However, I do appreciate you answering the question; although, let them go is not an answer I agree with. That is ignoring the law and exercising prosecutorial discretion.

It is not ignoring the law. The law is that it is a class B misdemeanor for an illegal border entry that can result in either civil or criminal penalties. The prosecutorial discretion has been that civil or criminal part. Prior to the Trump administration, it has been handled as a civil penalty in these cases. These people would turn themselves in, receive a court date, and be released. That's the typical process for any misdemeanor offense. The problem is that because of the backlog the government has lost track of these people because it can take upwards of two years before they get to court. If we devote more resources to processing these requests and alleviate the backlog then it solves the problem. What I am talking about is not ignoring the law, no matter how many times you say it.

Also, I held off on answering until learning more about what was going on. The reason is because this is not a policy area I am especially familiar with and there is a ton of misinformation out there right now about what is going on.