Attorney General Jeff Sessions hit back at sanctuary cities and called for changes to America's immigration system during a Friday afternoon speech.
Speaking to a law enforcement crowd in Norfolk, Virginia, Sessions advocated for the Trump administration's idea of implementing a merit-based immigration system.
"The American people have known for more than 30 years that our immigration system is broken. It's intentionally designed to be blind to merit," Sessions said.
"It doesn't favor education or skills. It just favors anybody who has a relative in America — and not necessarily a close relative. That defies common sense . . . For some reason, when we're picking new Americans — the future of this country — our government uses a randomized lottery system and chain migration."
Sessions then talked about admitting foreigners into the U.S. to become citizens based on their skills and what they can bring to their new country and its economy.
"A central idea of the president's immigration reform proposal is switching to a merit-based system of immigration," Sessions said.
"That means welcoming the best and the brightest but banning and deporting gang members, identity fraudsters, drunk drivers, and child abusers — making them inadmissible in this country. This merit-based system would better serve our national interest because it would benefit the American people, which is what the Trump agenda is all about."
Sessions added that other countries use a merit-based system for immigration and that it would help boost America's economy and make it safer.
Regarding sanctuary cities, Sessions said the state and local practice of not enforcing federal immigration laws forces "police to release criminal aliens back into the community — no matter what their crimes . . . If these cities want to receive law enforcement grants, they can. They just have to stop impeding federal law enforcement."
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