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Zero-Tolerance at the Border Loses its Teeth as GOP Struggles to Reform Immigration Policy

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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has scaled back a key element of its zero-tolerance immigration policy.

Customs and border protection officials say President Donald Trump's order last week to stop splitting up families at the border required a temporary halt to prosecuting parents and guardians unless they had a criminal history.

Meanwhile, the president continues to call for immediate deportation, saying that immigrants who cross the border illegally should be turned around to return to their home, not afforded due process.

"Hiring many thousands of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go - will always be dysfunctional. People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally. Children brought back to their country......" the president tweeted.

 "And we must continue to BUILD THE WALL," he added.

Trump is asking Congress for a permanent solution as the US is running out of resources to keep families together.

Republicans worked through the weekend on a compromise bill that would finance the president's $25 billion wall along the US border with Mexico.

It also keeps government agencies from taking migrant children away from detained parents and creates a path to citizenship for so-called "Dreamers" – illegal immigrants brought to the US when they were young.

The deal is the product of weeks of bargaining between party conservatives and moderates. 

However, the two sides have yet to cobble together a majority to pass the legislation.

No Democrats support it. A vote is scheduled for this evening.


 

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About The Author

Jennifer
Wishon

As Senior Washington Correspondent for CBN News, Jennifer covers the intersection of faith and politics - often producing longer format stories that dive deep into the most pressing issues facing Americans today. A 20-year veteran journalist, Jennifer has spent most of her career covering politics, most recently at the White House as CBN's chief White House Correspondent covering the Obama and Trump administrations. She's also covered Capitol Hill along with a slew of major national stories from the 2008 financial crisis to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and every election in between. Jennifer