'This is the Trump era': Sessions takes aim at illegal immigration

The Attorney General said the Trump Administration's focus on stemming the flow of immigrants across the border is an effort to protect communities from the violence he argues that immigrants bring.

Sessions also mentioned the recent Department of Homeland Security report, which indicated that border crossings are the lowest they have been in the last 17 years. The attorney general outlined his new directives for federal prosecutors to prioritize litigation against undocumented immigrants who enter and live in the USA and those who aid them. He called for harsher penalties for repeat border-crossers and warned anyone who helps people enter the United States illegally.

A new era indeed.

"This is a direct result of Donald Trump's strong clear leadership", Sessions said.

The nation's top law enforcer detailed a series of get-tough immigration policies.

To start, Sessions wants district attorneys to step up prosecutions of immigration-related crimes, including trafficking people across the border and re-entering the USA after being removed. In the past, most were just delivered back over the border.

What's your reaction to Sessions' announcement?

- Further, where an alien has unlawfully entered the country, which is a misdemeanor, that alien will now be charged with a felony if they unlawfully enter or attempt to enter a second time and certain aggravating circumstances are present.

"If you are scared, you're not going to make a change", she said.

Marijuana arrests also have dropped in the area by about 28 percent, from 1 million pounds in 2012 to 728,000 a year ago.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said he wasn't invited to Tuesday's tour and would have gladly shared his thoughts on border security and the needs of local law enforcement.

- Assault or or resistance of law enforcement officers engaged in immigration duties. "We don't want to do that".

After that, he will speak with service members at Luke Air Force Base near Glendale around 3:15 p.m.

In the speech itself, Sessions omitted the phrase "against this filth".

Sessions added that in his new initiative each US attorney would be required to designate a point person on border security prosecutions by April 18.

"In addition, we will put 50 more immigration judges on the bench this year and 75 next year". Immigration judges oversee civil immigration cases, but there is a backlog of over 540,000 pending cases due a shortage of judges.

Sessions told Customs and Border Protection personnel that he's calling on federal prosecutors to prioritize immigration cases and that the Department of Justice will be hiring a lot more judges to deal with them.

MOBILE USERS: Download the Tucson News Now app for Apple and Android devices.