The Department of Justice is sending 35 assistant United States attorneys to offices along U.S.-Mexico border to prosecute illegal entries into the country, and is also moving 18 immigration judges to the area.
“We are not going to let this country be overwhelmed. People are not going to caravan or otherwise stampede our border,” he told Fox Business Network on Wednesday afternoon. “We need legality and integrity in the system. […] We’re sending a message worldwide: Don’t come illegally. Make your claim to enter America in the lawful way.”
“[B]y deploying these additional resources to the Southwest border, the Justice Department and the Trump Administration take yet another step in protecting our nation, its borders, and its citizens,” Sessions said in a statement announcing the decision.
The 18 immigration judges will help deal with what is expected to be an increase in the number of asylum applications.
The announcement comes as the federal government deals with the arrival of a caravan of Central American migrants, who have been at a makeshift camp outside the border post in the Mexican city of Tijuana. On Monday and Tuesday, U.S. border officials processed 28 asylum applications.
There are a little more than 100 people who made the 2,000 mile journey from Central America seeking asylum and waiting to be processed.
The Justice Department said Monday it had filed complaints against 11 people who were thought to be part of the caravan and are accused of crossing the border illegally.
“We want the world to know, particularly our friends in the south and Central America and Mexico and other countries, we want them to know that we have a generous legal system for immigration,” Sessions said Wednesday.
The new assistant U.S. attorneys positions will help prosecuting illegal entry, illegal reentry and bringing in and harboring certain illegal immigrants, the Justice Department said.
The new immigration judges represent a roughly 50 percent increase in the current number of immigration judges, and will process cases both in person and via video teleconference.
“We must not let attempts to undermine our lawful immigration system deter that progress, and the men and women at EOIR are proud to play a small role in the Attorney General’s response to the crisis at our Southwest border,” said Executive Office for Immigration Review Director James McHenry.
President Trump has promised those in the caravan will not get into the country, and said this week that loopholes in the U.S. immigration system are being exploited.
“Just look at our southern border and look at our weak and obsolete immigration laws. And they are obsolete and they are weak and they are pathetic,” Trump said Monday. “And there’s no country in the world that has laws like we do and they’ve got to change and they’ve got to change now for the safety of our country.”
