US to assign prosecutors, judges for migration caravan cases

Washington, April 24 (IANS) US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered to assign prosecutors and judges to immediately deal with cases of undocumented immigrants arriving in the country in the migratory caravan.

"I have directed our US Attorneys at the border to take whatever immediate action to ensure that we have sufficient prosecutors available. I have also directed that we commit any additional necessary immigration judges to adjudicate any cases that may arise from this caravan," Sessions said on Monday.

The judges and prosecutors will be in charge of processing the detentions and expulsions of the immigrants, a process that can normally take years, during which immigrants are usually authorized to work in the US, reports Efe news.

Sessions also warned "there is no right to demand entry without justification" and "those who lie or commit fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".

Also on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that the government wass taking a series of measures to ensure that all immigration cases are resolved in the courts as soon as possible.

Nielsen announced sending the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) officials to handle the asylum cases and attorneys of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is in charge of detaining undocumented immigrants.

US media reported the arrival of 50 members in a caravan of Central American immigrants in California last week, who travelled through Mexico for weeks.

The caravan initially comprised 1,500 people and, as it moved ahead, the US President Donald Trump ordered deployment of the National Guard, a reserve corps of the Armed Forces that currently has some 900 members in the border area, according to official data.