New ‘zero tolerance’ border enforcement policy

WASHINGTON — All immigrants who cross the border illegally will be charged with a crime under a new “zero-tolerance” border enforcement policy, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday in a crackdown that could overwhelm already-clogged detention facilities and immigration courts with hundreds of thousands of new cases.

Sessions also said that families who illegally cross the border may be separated after their arrest, with children sent to juvenile shelters while their parents are sent to detention facilities. Until now, agents tried to keep parents and their children at the same detention site.