AG Jeff Sessions in Philly; talks about immigration, violent crime

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in Philadelphia Friday.

He spoke to a group of federal, state and local law enforcement officials at the U.S. Attorney's office - including Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross and police chiefs from Allentown, Bensalem and other places - in Center City Philadelphia.

Sessions began by saying the federal government stands ready to help Philadelphia and other cities deal with issues of violent crime.

He also address the so-called Sanctuary City issue, citing the example of an illegal immigrant child molestor, who, after serving time, was released back into the Philadelphia community rather than being detained and turned over to immigration officials for deportation.

He urged Philadelphia to re-think its current policies.

"I urge the City of Philadelphia and every 'sanctuary' jurisdiction to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their residents by refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement and to re-think these policies," said Sessions. "If we're going to stop the rise of violent crime, then we have to work together."

Session took a low-key approach, and did not, for example, threaten to withhold federal funding from so-called Sanctuary Cities.

Rather, he invited officials from Philadelphia and other cities to sit down and talk about the issue.

About two dozen protesters gathered outside the building where Sessions spoke and disrupted traffic for a short time on Chestnut Street.

There were no arrests.

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