Operation Streamline Proceedings

We spent the first half of our afternoon in the court of the Hon. Jacqueline Bateau on the 2nd floor of the Tucson Federal Courthouse. All of the immigrants had been picked up crossing the border within the last week. They shuffled in in groups of 7, shackled and chained. Most of them were young men, but there were a few older men and three women. All were charged with the misdemeanor, 'improper entry or attempted improper entry by an alien,' and most were also charged with a felony of 'illegal reentry after removal.' For each group, the judge asked them if they understood the charges, and if they had agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor in exchange for dropping the felony charge and waiving their right to appeal. Those who were charged with reentry were sentenced to between 30 days and 180 days in federal prison. Each group of 7 individuals took less than 10 minutes to process. As described in an ACLU Fact Sheet, "In Streamline proceedings, judges typically combine the initial appearance, arraignment, plea, and sentencing into a single hearing, sometimes taking as little as 25 seconds per defendant."

Most of the defendants said nothing other than 'yes' or 'guilty,' but one case showed briefly that many individual stories were not being told. The attorney for one of the immigrants stated that he had requested asylum, but had chosen to withdraw his request to be considered for asylum. The attorney said that the migrant's family's safety in his home country was threatened, and he needed to pay an extortion fee every month in order to protect them. (We have learned that requesting asylum would mean months to years of detention, would take years to resolve, and would likely not succeed.)

Mother Jones article on Operation Streamline