During his first week in office, President Biden has taken a number of actions to reverse some of the former administration’s immigration policies. On Tuesday, the Justice Department, under Biden’s acting attorney general Monty Wilkinson, circulated a letter to all U.S. attorneys officially rescinding Trump’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy. Though largely symbolic, the move signifies an entirely new approach towards migrants and refugees under the new administration.
The “zero tolerance” policy was announced in 2018 by the Trump administration, and sought to criminally prosecute the unauthorized entrance of every adult into the country. Trump’s Justice Department, under former attorney general Jeff Sessions, had instructed U.S. attorneys in border states to prosecute all undocumented immigrants even if it meant separating children from their parents. The policy resulted in the separation of over 3,000 migrant families. Today, 611 children who were split from their families are still yet to be reunited. After massive backlash and public outcry towards the family separation policy, the former president ended the practice in June of 2018, but the policy was never officially rescinded.
The acting attorney general’s letter, titled “Rescinding the Zero-Tolerance Policy for Offenses Under 8 USC 1235,” officially removed the policy from the Justice Department’s guidance to federal prosecutors. Instead of taking a zero-tolerance approach towards prosecuting border misdemeanors, the acting attorney general advised that U.S. attorneys utilize their discretion to prosecute unauthorized entries, taking into account “other individualized factors, including personal circumstances and criminal history, the seriousness of the offense, and the probable sentence or other consequences that would result from a conviction.” Under this approach, which has been taken by every administration before Trump’s, low-priority targets, like families with children, are typically not charged in federal court and therefore not separated. Instead, prosecutors can focus their limited resources on high-priority targets that pose a threat to United States security. “A policy requiring a prosecutor to charge every case referred for prosecution under 8 USC 1225 without regard for individual circumstances is inconsistent with our principles,” Wilkinson added.
Additionally, the Biden administration is expected to soon announce a family reunification task force to reunite the 611 children still separated from their parents. According to CNN, sources familiar with the planning have indicated that first lady Jill Biden will be taking an active role in the reunification project, which will lend visibility to the mission. The first lady was especially impacted by a December visit to a refugee camp in Matamoros, Mexico, across the border from Texas. “It’s not who we are as Americans. We are a welcoming nation, but that’s not the message that we’re sending at the border. We’re saying, ‘Stop. Don’t come in,’” she said during the visit. The first lady would join top officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Department who will be leading the reunification effort.