>But you can't split hairs on the intricacies between civil and criminal law (when for immigration, they're highly interwoven) Its not splitting hairs, its how

>But you can't split hairs on the intricacies between civil and criminal law (when for immigration, they're highly interwoven) Its not splitting hairs, its how the law and courts work. There is a difference between civil and criminal laws and courts. Point to a single Immigration Court case where the Court has sentenced someone to jail/prison for a criminal act. You can't because Immigration Courts don't have jurisdiction over criminal cases. >The article is about crossing the border. By foreigners without a visa. Illegally. No criminal charge was brought against these folks. They are NOT in a federal prison awaiting a federal criminal case. They are in an Immigration Detention Facility waiting to appear before a civil Immigration Judge. Could criminal charges be filed? sure, but then the Immigration Court would lose jurisdiction, they would go to a Federal Prison and appear before a Federal Criminal Court for the criminal case. Even if they were sentenced for the crime of illegal boarder crossing and sentenced to prison, they would serve their term in a federal prison not in a immigration detention facility, and likely ICE would be waiting outside the prison the day they get released and ICE would re-detain them, put them back in a Federal Immigration Detention Center pending civil removal (deportation proceedings) in Immigration Court.