AG Sessions issues zero-tolerance memo triggering family separation

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo directing US Attorneys along the southwest border to prosecute every case of improper entry under 8 U.S.C. § 1325. Because adults were taken into criminal custody, children could not legally accompany them and were transferred to HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen directed implementation. The policy produced systematic family separation on an industrial scale before public outcry forced its reversal in June 2018.