U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday the policies that allow immigrants to seek asylum in the United States were broken and subject to "rampant abuse and fraud."
In a speech at the department's Executive Office For Immigration Review, Sessions said too many immigrants were taking advantage of the rules, and urged Congress to pass legislation that could make it harder for asylum petitions to be granted. Overhauling the U.S. asylum system was on a list of immigration proposals the White House sent Congress over the weekend that President Donald Trump wants in exchange for a legislative fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Most of the principles, including a crackdown on the influx of Central American unaccompanied minors, are likely to be nonstarters for Democrats.
Sessions did not announce any specific policy shifts in his speech but urged Congress to act.