Grinding Justice  Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples
the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesn't Work
One defendant is a bricklayer's assistant with a family in
Mexico who was traveling to Salinas, California, to look for
work. Another, named Flores, is a truck driver from Phoenix
arrested at a Border Patrol checkpoint. Johnson says Flores had
been a resident of Phoenix for 10 years and before that a
resident of Los Angeles for 10 years. He was supporting a wife
and four American-citizen kids when collared.  Irwin sentences
Flores to 20 days. Getting off with time served is a rarity in
Irwin's court. Even first-timers with no criminal records get 10
days in jail before getting booted out of the country.  Later,
in his chambers, Irwin says that "most of the time, not all of
the time," he sends defendants to jail for at least a little
while.  Surprisingly, two of the 23 defendants before Judge
Irwin were heading back to Mexico when the Border Patrol
arrested them. Johnson says he's be