“We know that immigration law is a civil law, not a criminal one,” clarifies Rebeca Sánchez-Roig, who practices in Miami, Florida and for 15 years served as an immigration prosecutor for the Department of Justice. However, she cautions, “there are federal criminal statutes that apply to certain immigration actions, like what happened on Sunday, if prosecution is pursued. For example, to the trespassing or destruction of federal government property,” she notes.
