Sessions takes fight on border enforcement to New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — As thousands of National Guard troops deploy to the Mexico border, Attorney General Jeff Sessions brought his tough stance on immigration enforcement to New Mexico on Wednesday, telling border sheriffs that cracking down on illegal crossings and drug smuggling is necessary to build a lawful immigration system.

Sessions ticked off stories about smugglers being caught with opioids and cocaine at the U.S.Mexico border and legal loopholes that have encouraged more immigrants to make the journey.

“This is not acceptable. It cannot continue,” he said. “No one can defend the way the system is working today.”

Outside, dozens of immigrant rights activists protested Sessions’ visit, once again rejecting his previous characterization of the border region as “ground zero” in the Trump administration’s fight against cartels and human traffickers.

“He was wrong then, and he is wrong now.” said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, just south of Las Cruces.

As Sessions’ motorcade arrived, the group chanted in Spanish and waved signs against the proposed border wall and the deployment of National Guard troops to the region

Sessions was speaking in Las Cruces at the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition annual spring meeting with the Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition, which includes 31 departments from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The departments patrol areas located within 25 miles of the border.

Citing a crisis on the border, Sessions has issued an order directing federal prosecutors to put more emphasis on charging people with illegal entry.

He took another swipe Wednesday at sanctuary cities, telling the sheriffs that it’s “illogical and insane” that a person can enter the country illegally on Monday and make their way to San Francisco by Wednesday and not be deported.

Sessions said the crisis has been allowed to fester for decades while politicians made promises but did nothing to fix the system.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to deploy 400 National Guard troops at President Donald Trump’s request, but not all will head to the border as Trump wants and none will enforce federal immigration laws enforcement

Instead, the Democrat Brown said Wednesday the troops would join an existing program to combat transnational drug crime, firearms smuggling and human trafficking.

Sessions