Tag: Attorney General Sessions

Judge halts mother-daughter deportation, threatens to hold Sessions in contempt

The following article by Arelis R. Hernándz was posted on the Washington Post website August 9, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions restated his zero tolerance policy for illegal entry from the border with Mexico on June 11. Credit: Reuters

A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration started to remove a woman and her daughter while a court hearing appealing their deportations was underway.

“This is pretty outrageous,” U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said after being told about the removal. “That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?”

“I’m not happy about this at all,” the judge continued. “This is not acceptable.”

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The ACLU is suing Jeff Sessions over the Trump administration’s asylum policies

The following article by Brianna Provenzano was posted on the Mic.com website August 8, 2018:

The American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Gender and Refugee Studies filed suit Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., contesting the Trump administration’s evisceration of protections for asylum seekers.

The lawsuit, Grace v. Sessions, specifically calls into question policies enacted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in June that seek to ramp up deportations and expedite removal proceedings for immigrants.

Under the new rules, asylum officers are encouraged to categorize petitions citing credible “fears of domestic abuse or gang violence” as “personal circumstances,” which do not automatically constitute eligibility for asylum.

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GOP-led House committee rebuffs Trump administration on immigrant asylum claim policy

The following article by Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website July 26, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Credit: Alex Brandon, AP

A GOP-led House committee delivered a rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration policies this week — an unusual bipartisan move that may ultimately spell trouble for must-pass spending measures later this year.

The powerful House Appropriations Committee passed a measure that would essentially reverse Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s guidance earlier this year that immigrants will not generally be allowed to use claims of domestic or gang violence to qualify for asylum. The provision was adopted as part of a larger spending bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, an already contentious measure because of disputes over funding for President Trump’s border wall.

But one influential Senate Republican and ally of the White House warned that keeping the asylum provision could sink the must-pass funding bill, and other conservatives who support a tougher line on immigration began denouncing it Thursday.

View the complete article here.

Sessions says immigrants should apply for asylum at ports of entry, where many have been turned away

The following article by Rebekah Entralgo was posted on the ThinkProgress website June 18, 2018:

“They can go to our ports of entry if they want to claim asylum and they won’t be arrested,” he claimed.

Credit: Screengrab

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed the National Sheriffs’ Association Monday morning in New Orleans, Louisiana, delivering a speech riddled with misinformation about the nation’s immigration policies, particularly as they relate to asylum claims.

Sessions defended the administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border and alleged that if immigrants simply waited their turn at ports of entry to claim asylum, they would not be arrested.

“We do have a policy of prosecuting adults who flout our laws to come here illegally instead of waiting their turn, claiming asylum at ports of entry. They can go to our ports of entry if they want to claim asylum and they won’t be arrested,” Sessions said. “We cannot and will not encourage people to bring their children or other children to the country unlawfully by giving them immunity in the process.” Continue reading “Sessions says immigrants should apply for asylum at ports of entry, where many have been turned away”

Trump: I wish I didn’t pick Jeff Sessions as attorney general

The following article was posted on the Axios website May 30, 2018:

In a string of tweets on Wednesday morning, President Trump stated that he wished he picked someone else other than Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general after quoting an appearance by Rep. Trey Gowdy on CBS’ “This Morning.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too…and that’s how I read that – Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you. There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!
— President Trump’s three Wednesday morning tweets

Continue reading “Trump: I wish I didn’t pick Jeff Sessions as attorney general”

Sessions told White House that Rosenstein’s firing could prompt his departure, too

The following article by Sari Horwitz, Rosalind S. Helderman, Josh Dawsey and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website April 20, 2018:

Credit: Screengrab

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange.

Sessions made his position known in a phone call to White House counsel Donald McGahn last weekend, as Trump’s fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI’s raid April 9 on the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen. Continue reading “Sessions told White House that Rosenstein’s firing could prompt his departure, too”

Sessions invoking secession sets his critics up to revisit concerns about the AG’s history on race

The following article by Eugene Scott was posted on the Washington Post website March 8, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions scolded Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who warned the city of a possible ICE raid last month. (Reuters)

While attacking his political rivals in California on Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a bizarre comparison that left some questioning the former senator from Alabama’s recollection of American history.

He was speaking before law enforcement officials at the California Peace Officers Association’s annual gathering, a day after suing California over sanctuary city laws that he said violated the Constitution, obstructed immigration enforcement and put officers in danger. Continue reading “Sessions invoking secession sets his critics up to revisit concerns about the AG’s history on race”

Mueller investigation examining Trump’s apparent efforts to oust Sessions in July

The following article by Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website February 28, 2018:

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating President Trump’s efforts to belittle and potentially drive out Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (Reuters)

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating a period of time last summer when President Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job, according to people familiar with the matter who said that a key area of interest for the inquiry is whether those efforts were part of a months-long pattern of attempted obstruction of justice.

In recent months, Mueller’s team has questioned witnesses in detail about Trump’s private comments and state of mind in late July and early August of last year, around the time he issued a series of tweets belittling his “beleaguered” attorney general, these people said. The thrust of the questions was to determine whether the president’s goal was to oust Sessions in order to pick a replacement who would exercise control over the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 election, these people said. Continue reading “Mueller investigation examining Trump’s apparent efforts to oust Sessions in July”

Trump lashes out at Sessions over alleged surveillance abuses 1:43 Trump calls Sessions’ su

The following article by Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website February 28, 2018:

President Trump on Feb. 28 criticized hi attorney general for his decision to have the Justice Dept. inspector general investigate alleged surveillance abuse. (Reuters)

President Trump on Wednesday lashed out again at his attorney general, questioning why the man he picked as the country’s top law enforcement official was relying on the Justice Department’s inspector general to review alleged surveillance abuses.

In a Twitter message that took some liberties with the facts, Trump wrote, “Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!” Continue reading “Trump lashes out at Sessions over alleged surveillance abuses 1:43 Trump calls Sessions’ su”

Sessions to allow prosecutors to enforce federal marijuana laws, even in states where pot is legal

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the mic.com website January 4, 2018:

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding guidelines dating to the Obama administration that allow marijuana growers and sellers to operate in states that have legalized the drug, potentially opening up those marijuana businesses to criminal prosecution, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the highest drug classification. This ranks pot in the same class as heroin and ecstasy. The Obama administration didn’t change that classification, but decided to allow marijuana growers and sellers to operate in the states that have legalized pot in some form, currently totaling 29. Continue reading “Sessions to allow prosecutors to enforce federal marijuana laws, even in states where pot is legal”