President Trump paused his feud with Attorney General Jeff Sessions to offer a rare compliment on Tuesday, praising the Justice Department chief for his crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities.
“Jeff, I will say, the level of strength from the Justice Department on this issue and on other border issues has been fantastic,” Trump told his attorney general during a White House roundtable on immigration.
Sessions has waged war against sanctuary jurisdictions, where local officials have refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts, since the beginning of his tenure at the Justice Department. Earlier this month, the agency filed a lawsuit against California outlining three ways in which the state has “preempted” federal immigration laws and prioritized illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens.
In a March 7 speech on the topic of sanctuary protections, Sessions railed against “extremist” politicians who support protections for immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally and have encouraged local authorities to disregard enforcement efforts led by the federal government.
He specifically targeted Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who, earlier this month, publicly warned illegal immigrants of impending raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agency later criticized the move, noting it has exclusively targeted criminal illegal immigrants since the outset of the Trump administration.
“Her actions support those who flout our laws and boldly validates illegality,” Sessions had said of Schaaf. “How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement to promote an open borders agenda?”
Outside of the immigration issue, Trump has routinely criticized his attorney general over his decision to recuse himself from the federal investigation into Russian election meddling. As recently as last month, the president publicly condemned Sessions for tapping an “Obama guy” to investigate allegations of FISA abuse in a House Intelligence Committee report.
“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” the president tweeted. “Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”
Rumors of Sessions’ imminent firing shot across Washington earlier this month, but were later tamped down by the White House. As previously reported by the Washington Examiner, Sessions received a call from Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly last week to reassure him his job was safe.
