JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is warning undocumented immigrants in the United States of a new “Trump era” of stricter enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws, unveiling harsher punishments for those living in the country illegally.
“For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era,” Sessions said in remarks to immigration officials in Arizona Tuesday. “The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws, and the catch and release practices of old are over.”
Sessions told agents from the Customs and Border Protection that he promised to “bring the full weight of both the immigration courts and federal criminal enforcement to combat this attack on our national security and sovereignty.”
The Department of Justice plans to add 125 new immigration judges over the next two years via an expedited hiring process, an effort to combat the buildup of cases in the country’s immigration courts. He also said that undocumented immigrants will be charged with a felony instead of a misdemeanor if they try to enter the country illegally for a second time.
“This is no accident,” he said, citing the drop in undocumented immigrants entering the country through the southern border. “This is what happens when you have a President who understands the threat, who is not afraid to publicly identify the threat and stand up to it, and who makes clear to law enforcement that the leadership of their country finally has their back.”
Sessions also said each U.S. attorney’s office will have a border security coordinator for their district. He went on to emphasize that federal prosecutors will now be mandated to enforce existing laws banning the transportation and harboring of undocumented immigrants and assault on federal law enforcement officers.
President Donald Trump had made combating undocumented immigration a key part of his 2016 presidential campaign, vowing to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
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