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Report: Trump’s Border Crackdown Diverts Resources From Drug Cases

Prosecutors have reportedly been told to cut the time they spend on drug smuggling cases.

Federal prosecutors are diverting resources from drug-smuggling cases in California to deal with the mounting immigration cases under President Trump’s crackdown at the U.S. border, USA Today reports. Internal records reportedly show a Justice Department supervisor in San Diego telling border authorities that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is “diverting staff, both support and attorneys” as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ demands for all migrants entering the country illegally to be prosecuted. The supervisor, who runs the office’s major crimes unit, warned that prosecutors would have to spend less time on smuggling cases, according to the report. If a case can’t be completed in a certain time period, it would “have to be declined,” he was quoted as saying. The news comes after the District Attorney’s office in San Diego said the number of immigration cases submitted to them had more than doubled in recent weeks.