Senior administration officials’ complaints about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ job performance at the border are feeding into President Donald Trump's anger with him, a White House official close to immigration policy discussions says.
According to the official, whose name was not reported, the president has heard from high-ranking persons in the administration who are angry over the backlog of asylum cases, reports CNN.
Justice is “doing their part,” the official said, terming the complaints as “palace intrigue,” but still, the complaints are compounding Trump’s frustration both about his immigration agenda and about Sessions himself, after the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself over the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
However, a DOJ official told CNN that the department has already announced steps it plans to take to reduce the backlog and that it is only partly responsible.
Sessions has urged that more immigration judges to be hired, as there are just 350 immigration judges nationwide. According to a news release from the DOJ, the department has also worked out a plan to cut the time it takes to hire judges in half.
But Trump this summer said in a tweet that hiring thousands of judges would be dysfunctional and that people must be stopped at the border and told they cannot enter the country illegally.
Sessions, though, has also said that the Department of Homeland Security approves too many asylum applications.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he is frustrated with Sessions over more than the Russia probe.
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