Advocates: Fast-track immigration courts costly, ineffective

Posted on July 20, 2016
in
Tucson Sentinel.com
By: Paul Ingram
Published: July 14, 2016
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This Tucson Sentinel article quotes Indefensible author Judith Greene and co-author Bethany Carson, with additional quotes of Judge Felix Recio, retired Federal Magistrate for Brownsville, Texas.  Reporter Paul Ingram of the Sentinel explains how programs such as Operation Streamline rely on privately operated for-profit prisons under contract with the federal government to incarcerate migrants, and how, since 2003, 155 people have died in ICE facilities nationwide. 

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JS Publication July 13, 2016

Indefensible: A Decade of Mass Incarceration of Migrants Prosecuted for Crossing the Border

"Indefensible,” a new book from Justice Strategies and Grassroots Leadership, examines the costs and failures of over a decade of criminalization of border migration. Operation Streamline was launched in 2005 and added criminal convictions to the previous civil removal process, and is known for the disturbing spectacle of mass courtroom proceedings in which up to 80 shackled migrants are arraigned, convicted and sentenced for misdemeanor improper entry charges. While the Streamline courts have been scaled back in several districts, the legacy continues in federal courts, and includes related massive immigration prosecutions for both improper entry and felony re-entry. In 2015, half (49 percent) of all federal prosecutions were made up of what is essentially a crime of trespassing, in the form of improper entry and re-entry prosecutions. Read more »