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Attorney General Jeff Sessions after touring the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, on April 11 Ross D. Franklin/AP

This morning, Attorney General Jeff Sessionsvisited the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, to announce a new get-tough approach to immigration enforcement, directing federal prosecutors to pursue harsher charges against undocumented immigrants. "For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country," Sessions said, "be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era."

In his remarks, Sessions said nonviolent immigrants who enter the country illegally for a second time will no longer be charged with a misdemeanorthey'll be charged with a felony. He also recommended that prosecutors charge "criminal aliens" with document fraud and aggravated identity theft, which carries a two-year minimum sentence. In January, President Donald Trump expanded the definition of which immigrants can be considered "criminal" to include anyone who has committed "a chargeable criminal offense," which could include sneaking across the border.

As he proposed stiffer penalties for nonviolent immigrants, Sessions also targeted gangs and cartels "that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent citizens and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders." Invoking unusually severe language in the written version of his announcement, Sessions proclaimed, "It is here, on this sliver of land, where we first take our stand against this filth."

In contrast to the dire picture Sessions painted, crime rates in American border cities have been dropping for at least five years. Even after a year of increased violent crimewhich officials said had nothing to do with cartels or spillover violenceEl Paso, Texas, is among the safest of its size in the nation.

Sessions also promised to hire 125 new judges to address a backlog of immigration cases and prioritized the prosecution of offenses such as assaulting immigration authorities and smuggling more than three undocumented immigrants into the country. He urged prosecutors to crack down on people who reenter the United States after being deported. "The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws, and the catch and release practices of old are over," Sessions stated.

Frank Sharry, the executive director of America's Voice Education Fund, an immigration reform advocacy organization, issued a rebuke of Sessions' statement. "Attorney General Sessions is grandstanding at the border in an attempt to look tough and scare immigrants. It's yet another example of the Trump Administration treating all immigrants as threats and as criminals."

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Jeff Sessions Announces a New Crackdown on Immigrants and "Filth" - Mother Jones

Albuquerque Business First

NM delegation tackles health care, immigration, education at ABQ chamber luncheon Albuquerque Business First New Mexico's Congressional representatives tackled the Affordable Care Act, the nation's tax code, immigration reform and education during a luncheon hosted by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce on Monday at the Sheraton Albuquerque ... and more »

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NM delegation tackles health care, immigration, education at ABQ chamber luncheon - Albuquerque Business First

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump's rhetoric onimmigration was anything but restrained.

Trump called some Mexican immigrants "rapists" and blamed others for taking jobs away from American workers. Still others he blamed for acts of terror. He promised to overhaul the U.S. immigration system and, in general, make it much harder to immigrate to the United States.

Now that he's president, Trump has sweeping authority to change the way the immigration system works.There are two big ways he can do that: through visas, and through deportation.

He's already begun working on both fronts.

One way Trump can make a major dent in the number of immigrants allowed into the country is by changing the process by which visas are issued. One of Trump's first acts as president was an attempt to greatly restricttravelvisas from seven Muslim-majority countries, a move that was struck down by the courts. A second version of the order also stalled in the courts. Nearly 60,000 visa holders were affected by the two orders, theLos Angeles Timesreported in February.

While those moves didn't work the way he'd planned, there are other ways Trump can restrict visas.

H-1B visas, for workers with specialized jobs, are a prime target. In early March, the administration announced changes to the H-1B program. First,computer programmerswill no longer be considered "specialized" workers eligible for H-1Bs. Second, the administration announced a six-month hiatus on "expedited processing," which allowed visa applicants to learn the status of an application 15 days after applying. Now, the process could take months.

The administration also said it will begin conducting site visits to companies that employ a large percentage of H-1B workers in order to ensure the program is not being "abused."

In a draft executive order published in Januaryby Vox, the Trump team laid out further steps it could take on immigration, including ending the Dreamer program and turning away immigrants who are poor.

The other way Trump can reduce the number of immigrants is by deporting them. And, like his predecessor, BarackObama(under whose administration more undocumented immigrants were deported than any other, earning him the nickname "Deporter-in-Chief" from critics), Trump is doing just that.

While it's still too early to say whether Trump is on track to out-deport Obama, signs indicate that he's more gung-ho about expelling the undocumented than his predecessor was.

First, Trump is ramping up the number of government employees responsible for carrying out deportations. The administration plans to increase the numberof Border Patrol agents by about a quarter and the number of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement personnel by 80%.

Trump has also said his administration won't treat any class of immigrants for example, those who came to the United Statesas children as exempt from deportation.

The Obama administration claimed it prioritized deporting undocumented immigrants who had committed crimes, but data didn't bear that out. Trump would continue that policy.

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Immigration Reform 2017: Two ways the Trump administration is ... - Mic

The American Civil Liberties Union is sending a powerful, multilingual message to President Donald Trump about civil rights by postingthe First Amendment in English, Spanish and Arabic on billboards across the country.

The goal of its We the People campaign is to send a message to Trump that Americans rights particularly those of immigrants, Latinx and Muslims are protected by the Constitution.

Trump came to power on a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and it was particularly bad when it came to Muslims, ACLU communications staffer Stacy Sullivan told The Huffington Post. We thought this would be a good time to remind the public and Trump that the First Amendment applies to Muslims and Latinos, and everyone else in this country, too.

The First Amendment protects peoples right to practice their religion without facing discrimination. It also protects free speech, a free press and the right to protest.

The signs simply write out the language of the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The first signs went up last week in Times Square in New York, as well as at 30 bus stops in Washington, D.C. Another billboard went up in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The group is aiming to put up more signs in other cities and in other languages in the coming months, Sullivan said.

The ACLU chose to post the signs in Spanish and Arabic specifically because American and immigrant communities that speak those languages particularly the Muslim and Latinx communities are not only numerous in the U.S. but also are most under threat, said Sullivan.

The Trump administration has targeted Muslims with two executive orders barring travel from Muslim-majority countries which have both been blocked by the courts and Latinos with deportations and plans to build a wall on the Mexican border.

Its a way for us to state our solidarity with those communities under threat, Sullivan told HuffPost, and to say what [Trump is] doing is really un-American.

ACLU

While the signs are a pointed response to Trumps anti-immigrant policies, they are also a commentary on the presidents attacks on the other First Amendment freedoms: of the press, speech and protest.

Trump hascalled the media the enemy of the American people and attacked reputable media outlets, including The New York Times and CNN, bylabeling them fake news.

Trump has also criticized people who exercise their right to free speech and protest by suggesting that anyone who burns an American flag as a form of protestshould lose citizenship.

From his attempted Muslim ban to his calls for media suppression to his remarks endorsing the use of violence against those who protest against him, President Trump has shown disdain for the rights and freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a news release. We thought it was a good time to remind people of these rights.

ACLU

The We the People campaign, developed by ad agency Emergence Creative for the ACLU, is simply about sending a message to Trump that peoples rights need to be upheld and to all people in America that their rights are protected by law.

This campaign is intended to remind people that the Constitution is for all of us. It doesnt matter who you are or what language you speak, Romero said in the release. We the People means everyone.

For HuffPosts #LoveTakesAction series, were telling stories of how people are standing up to hate and supporting those most threatened. Know a story from your community? Send news tips to lovetips@huffingtonpost.com.

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ACLU Trolls Trump With First Amendment Billboards | The ... - Huffington Post

The American Civil Liberties Union has released giant billboards featuring the First Amendment, which provides the right to freedom of speech and press. Written in Arabic, Spanish and English, the ACLU's signs cover Times Square, as well as 30 bus stops in Washington, D.C. and a large spot in Los Angeles.

As part of their "We the People" campaign, the nationwide billboards spell out the language of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

ACLU's Stacy Sullivan spoke about the project with Huffington Post, saying, "Trump came to power on a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and it was particularly bad when it came to Muslims.Its a way for us to state our solidarity with those communities under threat and to say what [Trump is] doing is really un-American."

The advocacy organization chose to run the signs in Spanish and Arabic, as well as English, because Muslim and Latinx groups are especially under threat in Trump's America. They also shared a video to accompany the signs with future plans to spread the campaign to more cities and in more languages.

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ACLU Protests Trump with First Amendment Billboards Written in Arabic & Spanish - Out Magazine