Julián Castro Makes the Bold Call to Decriminalize Border Crossings
A small but consequential part of U.S. immigration law took the center stage during Wednesday's Democratic primary debate. Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro called for an end to Section 1325 of Title 8 of the United States Code, which designates illegal entry into the U.S. a misdemeanor felony.
As Dara Lind points out at Vox, decriminalizing illegal entry wouldn't mean that the U.S. moves to open borders—people who enter the country without the proper paperwork would still be breaking the law, but only committing a civil offense, the same way people break the law when they drive over the speed limit. They could still be deported. But as the law stands now, they can also be fined and jailed. During the debate, Castro, also the former mayor of San Antonio, drew an explicit connection between that law and the Trump administration's detention camps and its family separation policy:
The reason that they're separating these little children from their families, is that they're using Section 1325 of that act, which criminalizes coming across the border, to incarcerate the parents, and then separate them. Some of us on this stage have called to end that section, to terminate it. Some, like Congressman O'Rourke, have not. And I want to challenge all of the candidates to do that. I just think it's a mistake, Beto. I think it's a mistake and if you truly want to change the system, then we have to repeal that section. If not, then it might as well be the same policy.
O'Rourke responded by saying he supported legislation to "ensure that we don’t criminalize" people seeking asylum, but Castro reiterated that he was talking decriminalizing border crossings entirely. O'Rourke has previously said that he opposes repealing Section 1325, telling CNN, "If there is a drug trafficker or someone who poses a threat or harm to our families here in this country, absolutely, we should be able to criminally prosecute them. So I wouldn't want to remove that as an option in every case, but I would acknowledge that the vast majority of families who are attempting to petition for asylum do not pose a threat and should not be criminally prosecuted."
Castro's pointed exchange with O'Rourke prompted CNN's Van Jones to declare that he'd put a "Texas take down" on the former congressman. And after few mentions in media previously, Castro's performance led to a sharp spike in Google searches for his name during and after the debate.
Originally Appeared on GQ
