Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy in a Reno speech, as criticism over the resulting separation of parents and children entered a new week. Speaking to a convention of school resource officers, Sessions blamed Obama-era border directives for forcing action on a trend of immigrants crossing as families that had “surged dramatically,” and sought to associate the young children with high caretaking costs and public safety threats.

Sessions says, we’re going to continue to prosecute those adults who enter here illegally. But adds, “We’re going to do everything in our power, however, to avoid separating families.”