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When five U.S. attorneys along the US-Mexico border heard the federal government planned on prosecuting all undocumented immigrants attempting to cross the border, even if it meant separating them from their children, they told top Justice Department officials they were “deeply concerned” about the welfare of children affected by the policy. But former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was firm about the president’s wishes. “We need to take away children,” Sessions told the prosecutors, according to a two-year inquiry into the policy by the Justice Department’s inspector general into Trump’s family separation policy. Rod Rosenstein, then the deputy attorney general, told the five prosecutors it didn’t matter how young the children were — government lawyers should not have refused to prosecute two cases because the children were just older than infants. The New York Times
Trump Proposes H-1B Restrictions
The Trump administration sought to impose further immigration reforms on Tuesday, which will make it more difficult for skilled foreign workers to acquire visas. DHS is expected to publish regulations that would create more stringent requirements for businesses that hire foreign workers on H-1B visas, according to documents reviewed by The Hill. The new regulations redefine “specialty occupations,” limit the validity of an H-1B visa to one year and increase enforcement of companies that do not comply. The Hill
CBP Petitions National Archives to Destroy Records
CBP has petitioned the National Archives and Records Administration to designate thousands of internal records documenting abuse as “temporary,” which would allow them to be destroyed as early as in four years. The proposal would designate all records regarding CBP’s dealings with DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which receives complaints of civil rights abuses, as temporary. “It’s a pretty striking proposal: It would erase a lot of historical memory of CBP abuses that are very systemic in the agency,” Jesse Franzblau, a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said. The Intercept
