Attorney General Sessions Outlines New Immigration Approach

BALTIMORE, MD — Federal officials announced new proposals for securing national borders Tuesday during a press conference in Baltimore. While the focus was to be on MS-13 and how current immigration policies have fostered its growth in the U.S., officials prefaced their remarks with the latest on the New York subway bombing attempt; the news conference took place the day after a man from Bandladesh attempted to blow himself up in a New York subway.

"We can't wait longer," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. "As yesterday's New York events show in the starkest terms, the failures of our immigration system are also a national security issue."

In the last two months, there have been two terrorist attacks in New York City by "men who are here as the result of failed immigration policy," Sessions said.

He was referring to the Halloween truck crash in Tribeca, New York, by Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who was from Uzbekistan and came to the U.S. in 2010, and the New York City subway bombing by Akayed Ullah, 27, who came to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 2011. Both reportedly earned green cards.

President Donald Trump is proposing a shift in immigration policy from one based on lottery and relatives to a merit-based system that is rooted in the likelihood of a person contributing to society, he said.

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Echoing the approach that Session laid out, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen M. Nielsen said the U.S. has an "outdated" visa system and "we need to focus on merit-based" systems. She mentioned Canada and Australia as examples where merit-based immigration policies have worked.

"We know that decades of failed immigration policies have encouraged law enforcement officials to look the other way, and these have had real consequences to our public safety," Nielsen said. "The American people have paid the price. One tragic example is the resurgance of MS-13 in our country."

She said there were thousands of MS-13 gang members and their associates in the U.S.

"The brutality of MS-13 is unmatched," she said, citing an example from Wheaton, Maryland.

"Only 10 miles from our nation's capital, gang members earlier this year ambushed, choked and stabbed a victim more than 100 times, cut off his head, tore out his heart and then buried him in a national park where families bring their children to play," Nielsen said. "These savage criminals are in our communities, and they are a deadly consequence of our unsecured borders and our failed immigration policies."

• MS-13 Gang Member Charged In Wheaton Regional Park Murder
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According to Nielsen, ICE arrested 796 people who were associated with MS-13 this year. In a a 30-day period in New York, she said 39 associates of MS-13 were arrested.

"All were male, and most were from El Salvador," Nielsen said. Almost one-third of those arrested in the New York operation had crossed the border into the U.S. as unaccompanied minors. Three were allowed to become residents under a special policy that allows for protection due to abuse, abandonment or neglect, she said.

"Our immigration system, the most generous in the world, offered these people...the privilege of legally living in the U.S.," said Nielsen. "In return for our generosity, unfortunately these criminals took advantage of our system and became members of one of the world's most violent street gangs."

Nielsen called for an end to policies that she said were jeopardizing the public safety of all.

"We are asking Congress to close the loopholes that unaccompanied alien minors and illegal alien relatives exploit to overwhelm our detention facilities and expand our immigration court backlog," she said.

Nielsen asked for support from lawmakers.

"We need legislative action," Nielsen said. "Our first priority is to secure our southwest border." She said she was headed to Texas after the press conference to discuss the "lawless sanctuary cities" and borders with officials there.

The Department of Homeland Security intends to hire 1,000 additional ICE attorneys, and supports the Department of Justice hiring 370 additional immigration judges, according to Nielsen.

She said that the U.S. would bring its resources to bear to "make America safe again."

Sessions said there had been 50 immigration judges hired since January, and the plan was to hire another 60 judges in the next six months to handle immigration cases, of which thousands were backlogged.

"Be certain about this," Sessions said. "We are enforcing the laws again, as they are written."

• Hundreds Of MS-13 Gang Members Arrested In Immigration Raids
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