Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) tore into DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson for his and the president’s failure to enforce U.S. immigration laws, which Sessions believes is responsible for the chaos along the border. He declared “the humanitarian disaster is caused by a legal disaster your leadership and the president’s leadership has failed to send a clear message throughout the world that you must come to the United States lawfully, you cannot come unlawfully. In fact you send the message that conveys just the opposite.”
Sessions told Johnson his tenure has seen conditions along the southern border deteriorate, including the influx of unaccompanied minors “under your leadership it seems to have gotten worse…and we’re seeing this flood of young people.”
Sessions also detailed the violence directed at border agents who he said are “being attacked with vehicles, they’re being shot, and they’re being pummeled with large rocks.” He blamed this on failure to enforce immigration laws, and argued “lawlessness begets violence.”
One of the examples of this lawlessness that Sessions detailed was Johnson’s declaration that children “should be treated differently from adult violators of the law,” which Secretary Johnson stated he still agreed with. Sessions also criticized the administration for suspending deportations, and reports that stated the administration was letting “lots of women and kids into the United States.”
He concluded by reading a letter from a Customs and Border Protection official stating, “If the federal government fails to deliver adequate consequences to deter aliens from attempting illegally the US, the result will be an even greater increase in the rate of recidivism and first-time illicit entries. Releasing other than Mexican family units, credible fear claims, and low-threat aliens on their own recognizance, along with facilitating family reunification of unaccompanied alien children in lieu of repatriation to their country of citizenship serve as incentives for additional individuals to follow the same path … to stem the flow, adequate consequences must be delivered for illegal entry into the United States and for facilitating human smuggling either as a direct member of an illicit alien smuggling organization or as a private facilitator, these consequences must be delivered both at the border and within the United States.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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