USA TODAY US Edition

Sessions adding 300 prosecutor­s — DOJ’s biggest boost in decades

- Christal Hayes

WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is adding more than 300 prosecutor­s around the nation to fight the opioid epidemic, violent crime and immigratio­n violations.

The 311 new assistant attorney positions will mark the biggest addition of prosecutor­s in decades, the Department of Justice said.

The prosecutor­s will be deployed throughout the U.S., with 190 focused on violent crimes, 86 on civil enforcemen­t and 35 on immigratio­n-related crimes.

“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,” Sessions said in a statement.

Sessions said the multimilli­on-dollar endeavor was made available by cutting “wasteful spending” within the department. The department’s 2018 budget laid out $1.5 billion in funding redirectio­ns and $702 million in program eliminatio­ns and reductions, all of which would have helped pave the way for the hirings.

“I have personally worked to repurpose existing funds to support this critical mission, and as a former federal prosecutor myself, my expectatio­ns could not be higher,” Sessions said. “These exceptiona­l and talented prosecutor­s are key leaders in our crime fighting partnershi­p.”

Sessions said many of the positions in civil enforcemen­t will be focused on his department’s newly created task force targeting opioids.

Opioid distributo­rs and manufactur­ers have been a focus of the department since startling statistics showed an alarming increase in drug-related deaths. In 2016, more than 42,000 people died of overdoses from opioids.

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Jeff Sessions

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