During the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 race, former Housing and Urban Development secretary all candidates to join his call for the repeal of a controversial immigration law.
The law, , makes entering the United States 鈥渁t any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers鈥� a federal crime.
It鈥檚 among the most prosecuted federal crimes in the United States. Thousands of defendants are charged with violating Section 1325 .
The government shouldn鈥檛 鈥�,鈥� Castro argued. Instead, he advocated, it should treat the unlawful entry of undocumented migrants as 鈥渁 civil violation.鈥� That is, migrants who enter the United States without permission should be deported, not incarcerated.
Castro acknowledged that several other candidates on the stage in Miami, including Sen. Cory Booker, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, already agree with him.
But others, like former congressman Beto O鈥橰ourke, don鈥檛 support Section 1325鈥檚 repeal.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 asking too much for people to follow our laws when they come to this country,鈥� .
During the second night of the debates, which featured a slate of , most of the candidates on stage indicated their support for the measure鈥檚 repeal.
I would repeal Section 1325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act -- the only way to ensure that another administration like Trump's could not separate little children from their mothers. They use that law to justify their cruel policy of family separation. It must end.
— Juli谩n Castro (@JulianCastro)
The Backstory
The United States placed few legal restrictions on crossing borders prior to the 1920s. Even then, entering the U.S. without authorization wasn鈥檛 a crime. Deportations could be effected through civil legal process.
With Section 1325, Congress made 鈥溾�� a crime in 1929 鈥� soon after imposing strict based on national origin.
According to University of California Los Angeles historian , white supremacist South Carolina Sen. was its architect.
Criminal enforcement, however, remained rare for decades 鈥� even when the deportation of Mexican Americans surged in the and . Prosecutions based on Section 1325 only started in the first decade of this century, during President George W. Bush鈥檚 administration.
Family Separation
Due to the Justice Department鈥檚 current 鈥溾�� policy, anyone who can be should be charged with a misdemeanor. That has, in thousands of cases, included parents traveling with children. Once charged with this federal crime, parents must be taken into the custody of the U.S. Marshals 鈥� where children are not allowed.
The White House in June 2018, just days before a U.S. District Court judge . Yet this practice has .
Based on my research about the , I鈥檓 confident that repealing Section 1325 would not increase the number of undocumented people living in the United States.
Anyone without authorization to live in this country would continue to be subject to deportation, a remedy 鈥渂urdensome and severe.鈥�
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, Associate Professor of Law,
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