AG Nominee Garland Evasive on Whether Illegal Border Crossing Should Remain a Crime

Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland is sworn-in during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, on Feb.22, 2021. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, Merrick Garland, gave an evasive answer during his Senate confirmation hearing Monday to the question of whether illegal border crossings should continue to be treated as a crime.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Garland during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing whether unlawful border crossings into the United States “should remain a crime.”