President-elect Donald Trump has offered Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions the position of attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Sessions, an early Trump backer, is an immigration hard-liner who has been in the Senate since 1997 and previously served as attorney general for the state of Alabama. In 1986 Sessions was rejected as a federal judge as he was deemed too racist.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) issued a statement Thursday night that said Sessions had the necessary experience to be the nation’s top law enforcement official, reported The Huffington Post.
“Not only would Jeff bring integrity and immense expertise to the role of Attorney General due to his decades of experience in the legal field and an impressive tenure on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Jeff has also gained the deep respect of his Senate colleagues for his commitment to upholding the rule of law,” Shelby said. “My wife Annette and I are proud of Jeff’s accomplishments and wish him and his wife Mary the very best during this exciting transition.”
Latino Victory Fund President Cristobal J. Alex vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against Sessions’ appointment. “Trump’s pick of Jeff Sessions for Attorney General is a direct attack against communities of color and the LGBTQ community,” said Alex. “It is outrageous and outright dangerous to have one of the most racist politicians in Congress, who has made it his life’s mission to hurt Latinos, immigrants, and African Americans, as the head of the Department of Justice. Throughout his career Sessions has proven his contempt for Latinos by leading the charge in the fight against birthright citizenship, immigration reform, legal immigration and sanctuary cities.
In 1986 the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked Jeff Sessions’ confirmation to be a Federal District judge in Alabama because of his racist actions and rhetoric. We will fight tooth and nail to ensure that Sessions doesn’t get confirmed. We cannot and will not allow a man who said he’s ok with the KKK to head the Department of Justice.”
As attorney general, Sessions would exercise broad influence over U.S. law enforcement and specifically how U.S. immigration laws are enforced.
Commenting on the announcement of Sessions for attorney general, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron said, “The choice of Senator Sessions to lead the Department of Justice is more than deeply unsatisfactory; it is a blatantly inflammatory act in a time of heightened focus on violence and injustice against communities of color. The Attorney General is the ultimate defender of the rights and liberties of all people in the United States. Sessions’ history of racist rhetoric, insults and persecution is well-known, and put a swift end to his nomination for a federal judgeship years ago. As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, he became infamous for his prosecutions of African Americans for vote fraud, all of which ended in acquittals. The proposed nomination of this person as a candidate for this position is a shocking gesture of hostility toward millions of Americans, and should be immediately rejected.”
If you’re here illegally, you should be deported. Doesn’t matter whether you’re white, black, brown, gay, straight or whatever.
No other country that I know of puts up with illegal immigration.
We accept about one million legal immigrants a year, and the illegals who “cut in line” do not deserve anything other than to be quickly and humanely deported.
We’re either a nation of laws or we’re not.
If Democrats want open borders, they should go through the democratic process and get our laws changed.
But of course, they don’t want to do that. That would make too much sense.