Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced new assignments of more than 300 Assistant United States Attorneys to focus further on reducing violent crime, prosecuting illegal immigrants and combating the opioid crisis.
"Under President Trump's strong leadership, the Department of Justice is going on offense against violent crime, illegal immigration, and the opioid crisis—and today we are sending in reinforcements," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday afternoon. "We have a saying in my office that a new federal prosecutor is 'the coin of the realm.' When we can eliminate wasteful spending, one of my first questions to my staff is if we can deploy more prosecutors to where they are needed. I have personally worked to re-purpose existing funds to support this critical mission, and as a former federal prosecutor myself, my expectations could not be higher. These exceptional and talented prosecutors are key leaders in our crime fighting partnership. This addition of new Assistant U.S. Attorney positions represents the largest increase in decades."
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The announcement was made on President Trump's 500th day in office.
DOJ breaks down the assignments as "190 violent crime prosecutors, 86 civil enforcement prosecutors and 35 additional immigration prosecutors."
The announcement comes one month after Sessions sent an additional number of immigration judges and prosecutors to handle immigration cases in border states California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
In April, Sessions issued new guidelines to immigration judges requiring they get through 700 cases per year in order to cut down on the years-long immigration court backlog.
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