Border patrols go zero tolerance
"At the U.S. District Clerk's office in Laredo, deputy clerk Ben Mendoza said the magistrate's docket has doubled since Streamline began. ''I'm getting calls constantly from families about where their relatives are being held," Mendoza said.
Arthur Thomas, deputy U.S. marshal in Laredo, said beds in Laredo jails are full, forcing immigrants to be sent as far away as Waco and East Texas.
Kathleen Walker, an El Paso immigration attorney and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the zero-tolerance operation and the limited legal representation available to immigrants denies them due process, especially those with potential claims of asylum or U.S. citizenship."
JAMES PINKERTON in the Houston Chronicle.