If the government shuts down this weekend over funding of the border wall, it will be the fault of Democratic lawmakers, not Republicans, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.
"The way the system works is that whenever the government is shut down, people blame the Republicans," Sessions told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program. "Let me tell you, it will be the Democrats that shut this government down to block the funding of the wall."
There is a bill moving forward with "some money, and therefore the wall," and it will be up to Congress to pass it, said Sessions, a former Republican senator from Alabama. "If the Democrats filibuster that, they're the ones shutting the whole government down just to keep the wall from being built. No doubt about it."
Sessions said President Donald Trump and his administration needs to remind Congress that the president promised a wall and Americans voted for him in high numbers to have the wall built.
Trump did promise that Mexico would pay for the wall, and Sessions said Congress can find ways to make that happen.
"It can be done through people who pay to [come into] our country from Mexico, fees and costs, and even taxes that I believe would make a lot of payment toward fixing it,' said Sessions.
"There's no problem with getting this done, and it's going to save a huge amount of money because we're going to see this rapid decline in the number of people that come into our country illegally, housing, deportation cost, all kinds of costs will be reduced when we reduce that flow."
In the past, senators approved legislation to build a fence, but now that Trump wants a wall, they are balking, said Fox News' Brian Kilmeade. Sessions responded that's because lawmakers are reluctant to do anything that "actually fixes the problems."
Illegal crossings are not going to stop until the wall is built, said Sessions, and "this is the closest we'll ever get to getting it done … it has already been reduced as much as 70 percent, this illegality, and we're going to get it to zero and keep it there, and we'll be proud of a new system that we have."
The rest of the money for the wall, after the initial $1 billion Trump is seeking, will be come in next year's budget, which has to be completed by Sept. 30, said Sessions.
Sessions has also indicated a crackdown on sanctuary cities, but said Monday there will nothing done through the Department of Justice that infringes on civil rights.
"Overwhelmingly, all people want to see lawfulness return, I believe, to the immigration system, and we're not targeting anybody," said Sessions. "The law says that any person who enters the country unlawfully and then is convicted of a crime should be deported and shall be deported, so that's all we're asking. Overwhelmingly most cities and counties in America support that policy and cooperate every day."
Cities are being asked first to certify they're not breaking the sanctuary cities law by June, but so far, only one has responded, and another has filed suit.
"We're giving them money, and they're not happy that we might actually hold them to agreements they made," said Sessions.