Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff, Arizona • A7

ArizonA DAily Sun Tuesday, June 19, 2018 A7 1 ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Thousands of children split from their families at the U.S. southern border are being held in government-run facilities. a look at how we got here, real and not, and what might happen next. IMMIGRATION History, truth around outrage Change in US policy results in controversy, anguish at the border U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION a u.s.

Border Patrol agent watches as people been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the united states stand in line at a facility sunday in Mcallen, Texas. So, what about the Bible? Last week, Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy. would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise com- mand in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the gov- ernment because God has ordained them for the pur- pose of he said. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders de- fended use of the Bible saying is biblical to enforce the But longtime Trump ally, the Rev. Franklin Graham, had already rejected the zero-tolerance pol- icy as while former first lady Laura Bush called the practice and Did US change policy or not? Yes.

While new immigration policy call for fami- lies to be separated, as pointed out by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the policy makes separations inevitable. Following election, then-Homeland Secu- rity Secretary John Kelly now White House chief of staff floated the idea of separating families as a way to discourage illegal border crossings. But much of the focus went into a travel ban aimed at Muslim-majority nations. By this April, Sessions announced a plan: The U.S. would have for illegal crossings.

If a person arrive at an appropriate port of entry to claim asylum, the crossing is deemed illegal and prosecuted even if the person does not have a criminal history. With the adult detained and facing prosecution, any minors accompanying them are taken away. Nielsen has muddied the debate by insisting that children will only be separated in narrow circumstances, including if the adult has broken the law. That falsely leaves the impression that only chil- dren traveling with gang members or other violent criminals will be separated. But under U.S.

law, the act of crossing the border without proper documentation itself is a crime and would trigger a separation. The result is that in the six weeks following announce- ment, nearly 2,000 minors were separated from adults at the border. How did we get here? Tens of thousands of parents and children, mostly from Hon- duras, El Salvador and Guatemala, have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in recent years with stories of flee- ing drug cartels, extreme poverty and gang violence. The U.S. send them back over the border unless they are Mexican citizens and instead must refer their case to an immigration judge.

In 2008, President George W. Bush focused on the problem of minors crossing the border with- out their parents and signed a law unanimously passed by Congress that called for such nied to be released into the restrictive By 2014, President Barack Obama was facing an influx of both children traveling alone and families as a result of violence in Central America. At one point, his administration tried housing the families in special detention centers. But after a federal judge in California ruled the arrangement violated a long-standing agree- ment barring kids from jail-like settings, even with their parents, the government began releasing families into the U.S. pending no- tification of their next court date.

Fast forward to President Don- ald Trump, who campaigned on building a border wall, and At- torney General Jeff Sessions, who derided these longtime U.S. im- migration practices as and Trump and Sessions in- sisted that people exploit the sys- tem, even traveling with children to ensure they jailed. SessionsNielsen What do Democrats have to do with this? Not much, except that they seem to be seiz- ing on the issue to press Republicans to break from the president ahead of the midterm elections. Trump has repeatedly said Democrats are to blame and cited a that separates families. But no law mandates that par- ents must be separated from their children at the border, and not a policy Democrats have pushed or can change alone as the mi- nority in Congress.

(That 2008 law signed by Bush dealt only with unaccompanied minors, not families.) Perhaps a bigger obstacle is that Republicans, currently in control of Congress, have been deeply divided on immigration. Moderate Republicans have been trying to negotiate a plan that would reduce family sep- arations and also open a door to citizenship for young immi- grants brought to the U.S. as children and who stayed ille- gally. But many hardline conserva- tives are leery of any legislation that would protect from depor- tation immigrants who arrived illegally, calling it and complicating the ability to pass both the House and reach the needed 60 votes in the Senate. Some Democrats have spec- ulated that Trump is using the humanitarian crisis as leverage to negotiate a tougher immigra- tion bill, an assertion the White House has rejected.

But White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Monday that any crisis belongs to Democrats because they are the ones who rejected initial immi- gration plan. a dangerous situation for this country and all on the backs of the he told Fox News. Trump NEWS Truth in Taxation Hearing Notice of Tax Increase In compliance with section 48-254, Arizona Revised Statutes, the Coconino County Library District is notifying its property taxpayers of the Coconino County Library intention to raise its secondary property taxes over last level. The Coconino County Library District is proposing an increase in secondary property taxes of $152,037 or 3.61%. For example, the proposed tax increase will cause the Coconino County Library secondary property taxes on a $100,000 home to increase from $24.67 (total taxes that would be owed without the proposed tax increase) to $25.56 (total proposed taxes including the tax increase).

This proposed increase is exclusive of increased secondary property taxes received fromnewconstruction. The increase is also exclusive of any changes that may occur from property tax levies for voter approved bonded indebtedness. All interested citizens are invited to attend the Public Hearing on the tax increase that is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 6:00 pm, in the County Administrative Center First Floor Meeting Room, 219 East Cherry, Flagstaff, Arizona. Publish on and Truth in Taxation Hearing Notice of Tax Increase In compliance with section 48-254, Arizona Revised Statutes, the Coconino County Flood Control District is notifying its property taxpayers of the Coconino County Flood Control intention to raise its secondary property taxes over last level. The Coconino County Flood Control District is proposing an increase in secondary property taxes of $74,228 or 2.85%.

For example, the proposed tax increase will cause the Coconino County Flood Control secondary property taxes on a $100,000 home to increase from $15.90 (total taxes that would be owed without the proposed tax increase) to $16.35 (total proposed taxes including the tax increase). This proposed increase is exclusive of increased secondary property taxes received fromnewconstruction. The increase is also exclusive of any changes that may occur from property tax levies for voter approved bonded indebtedness. All interested citizens are invited to attend the Public Hearing on the tax increase that is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 6:00 pm, in the County Administrative Center First Floor Meeting Room, 219 East Cherry, Flagstaff, Arizona. Publish on and.