Jeff Sessions: Clinton’s Immigration Plan ‘Dangerous,’ More ‘Lawless’ Than Obama

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is slamming Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her promise not to deport any illegal immigrants — save for violent criminals and terrorists — if she is elected president.

“The logic underlying Secretary Clinton’s position is dumbfounding, and assumes that it is better to wait until after an American life is lost, or to wait until a bomb is ready to go off, to attempt to take any enforcement action against those who have violated our immigration laws,” Sessions said in a statement Thursday evening, reacting to Clinton’s comments during Wednesday night’s Democratic primary debate.

Sessions noted that under the Clinton plan, illegal immigrants “charged or convicted for drug trafficking, bank or credit card fraud, forgery, theft, driving under the influence, and countless other criminal offense,” would remain in the United States.

Clinton’s primary opponent Bernie Sanders voiced a similar policy during Wednesday night’s debate. Sessions commented that “there is no daylight” between Clinton and Sanders’ immigration stances and noted that the proposals will cause particular economic damage to the voters both candidates are looking to corral.

“What’s more, their strident support for granting executive amnesty beyond that which even President Obama was willing to do will only further depress the wages and employment prospects of U.S. workers – the very workers who they claim to support,” Sessions said. “And the morale of federal law enforcement officers will be lowered even further.”

According to Sessions, both Democratic candidate’s immigration plans are “dangerous,” run counter to the national interest, and go beyond the Obama administration’s already lax immigration enforcement efforts.

“Recent hearings in the Senate have found that the Obama Administration is deporting the fewest number of criminal aliens from the interior of our country in years,” Sessions said, “that it has only deported 3 to 4 percent of the illegal alien juveniles who have crossed our southern border in the last two and a half years; and, that nearly half a million aliens overstayed their visas – and face virtually no chance of being deported – in the last fiscal year alone. Yet for Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders, the Obama Administration’s near obliteration of our immigration system does not go far enough.”

The Alabama lawmaker concluded that Democratic candidates’ plans essentially allow any foreigner who is able to get in the country — by illegally entering the U.S. or overstaying their visas —  to remain in the U.S. definitely.

”For far too long, the American people have been crying out for a lawful system of immigration – one that serves their interests,” Sessions said. “One that puts as the highest priority their safety, their jobs, their wages, their schools, and their hospitals. Unfortunately, the American people can only be assured of this: the immigration platforms of Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders would ensure continued lawlessness, the further erosion of national sovereignty, the depression of wages, the diminution of job prospects, and a continued fundamental transformation of the United States of America.”