Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Immigration
Photo courtesy of Senator Jeff Sessions website
Seung Min Kim on Politico lists some of the steps that Attorney General Jeff Sessions might take with respect to implementing a hard line immigration policy. She begins: “If confirmed as Trump’s attorney general, the Alabama senator would instantly become one of the most powerful people overseeing the nation’s immigration policy, with wide latitude over the kinds of immigration violations to prosecute and who would be deported.” Democratic leaders in the Senate have promised a thorough confirmation process in considering Sessions’ nomination.
Senator Sessions has this “immigration plan” on his Senate website. The website explains that in “Defending American workers”:
“Senator Sessions is committed to immigration reform that serves the national interest – not the special interests – and that curbs the unprecedented flow of immigration that is sapping the wages and job prospects of those living and working here today.
Sessions was a leading opponent of the 2007 amnesty bill and 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill. The Gang of Eight bill eviscerated immigration enforcement, opened up welfare and citizenship to millions of illegals aliens, issued an astonishing 33 million green cards in a single decade, and doubled the annual flow of temporary workers to fill jobs at lower wages.
Sessions has also been a leading opponent of President Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesties, which gives jobs and benefits to illegal workers at the expense of struggling families.
A former Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Sessions now serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, where he promotes an immigration policy that prioritizes the jobs, wages, and security of the American people.”
Sessions could be an Attorney General like John Ashcroft, the Attorney General in President George W. Bush’s first term. Among other things, Ashcroft oversaw the “streamlining” of the Board of Immigration Appeals (and removal of more liberal Board members along with an increase in the number of summary dispositions), announced the “special registration” program applying to certain Muslim noncitizens in the “war on terror,” and has been accused of civil rights abuses in various measures taken in the name of national security. Ashcroft “is one of those people who are busy deflecting claims of racism and bigotry that have been hurled at Sessions.”
KJ