Some unaccompanied minors trying to sneak across America's southern border are gang members who are "wolves in sheep's clothing," Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned Thursday.
In a prepared speech to local and national law enforcement in Boston, Sessions said "transnational" gangs like Central America-based MS-13 use an unaccompanied refugee minors program "as a means by which to recruit new members."
"We are now working with the Department of Homeland Security and [Health and Human Services] to examine the unaccompanied minors issue and the exploitation of that program by gang members who come to this country as wolves in sheep clothing," he said.
According to Politico, the unaccompanied refugee minors program was developed in the 1980s to helps children in Southeast Asia without parents. Since 1980, more than 13,000 children have entered the program, Politico reported, citing the HHS.
The Obama administration allowed certain minors in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to also be considered for refugee status, Politico reported. But Homeland Security canceled approvals for 2,700 children last month.
"This is America," Sessions said. "We will not allow the likes of MS-13 or any other gang to prey upon our communities, to decapitate individuals with machetes, baseball bats and chains," vowing to "not concede a single block or street corner" to MS-13's "vicious tactics."
He also emphasized the importance of a border wall.
"Securing our border, both through a physical wall and with the brave men and women of the Border Patrol, and restoring an orderly and lawful system of immigration is part and parcel of this anti-gang strategy," he said.
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