National

Border district to drop charges against immigrants separated from children, email says

EL PASO — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas will dismiss all illegal entry immigration cases where children were separated from their families, according to an email obtained by the El Paso Times.

An email sent by Maureen Scott Franco, head of the Federal Public Defenders Office of the Western District of Texas, states that federal prosecutors will dismiss the cases and no further charges will be filed against the parents.

The email was sent by Franco to all defense lawyers who are part of the Western  District of Texas Criminal Justice Association. Franco could not immediately be reached for comment, but Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Texas, sent a statement to NBC on Thursday saying that all pending 1325 and 1326 cases would be dismissed, with exceptions for cases with serious criminal histories. He later said that he was retracting the statement but would not confirm if the office will dismiss the cases, saying he planned to send out another statement to clarify.

Franco's memo read: “Be advised that the US Attorney's Office will move (or have already moved) to dismiss all 1325 and 1326 cases where children were separated from their parent. Going forward, they will no longer bring criminal charges against a parent or parents entering the United States if they have their child with them.”

Title 8 of U.S. Code 1325 and 1326 assigns misdemeanor charges for illegal entry and felony charges for illegal re-entry into the country.

Franco advised lawyers to “immediately” check any cases they are handling involving separated children to make sure they have or will be dismissed.

Franco also said in the email that defense attorneys should request any future immigration cases involving a child to be dismissed.

According to the email, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Franklin Bash “has authorized this action and has already moved to dismiss several pending cases throughout the border district.”

Franco also says that Bash told her “until or unless he is countermanded this will be the policy of the Western District of Texas.”

She ends the email stating, “Happy news for our clients — now the real work begins — helping to reunite the parents with their children.”

Franco could not immediately be reached for comment, but Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Texas, issued a statement late Thursday confirming that an undisclosed number of cases were being dismissed.

Fields' statement was meant to clarify earlier remarks to NBC when he said that all illegal entry cases would be dismissed.

Fields could not be reached to elaborate.

Yet, a new policy may already be in force. Case in point: 17 immigrants were bused to the federal courthouse in McAllen on Wednesday morning, and then bused back to the detention center without ever being charged. Their fate is unclear.

The email comes the day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the policy of separating immigrant families.

In April, the Trump administration began enforcing a "zero tolerance" policy toward immigrants who enter the country illegally. The policy directed U.S. attorneys to prosecute every such case "to the extent practicable."

The enforced resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson. Follow Aaron Martinez on Twitter: @AMartinez31