EXCLUSIVE
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed a few of the criticism he and the White House have acquired in current weeks relating to the administration's immigration coverage in an unique interview Thursday with CBN News.
Sessions was personally criticized when he quoted scripture to justify separating households at the southern border, one thing CBN's David Brody requested him about.
"I don't think it was an extreme position that I took," stated Sessions. "I directed it not to say that religion requires these laws on immigration. I just simply said to my Christian friends, 'You know, the United States has laws and I believe that Paul was clear in Romans that we should try to follow the laws of government of which we are a part.'"
Sessions alluded to the Bible once more when he mentioned the morality of immigration legislation.
"I believe, strongly, that it is moral, decent and just for a nation to have a lawful system of immigration," Sessions stated. "I'm not aware of a single nation in the world that doesn't have some sort of rules about who can enter and who cannot enter. I believe there is biblical support for that, too."
Sessions instructed Brody that each one of the criticism has not gone unfelt, particularly the criticism coming from his Christian brothers and sisters.
"It is painful," Sessions stated. "I am pretty well resolved that we try to consider the concerns that people have if they're legitimate."
"I have critics from a lot of different areas. I think our church people are really concerned about children – that's what I'm hearing," he additionally stated. "I feel it. I think there's a legitimate concern there and I'm pleased to work with the president to address those concerns."
But as the high US legislation enforcement officer, Sessions stated it is his responsibility to uphold constitutional legal guidelines.
"I do have a responsibility to ensure that within my realm that the laws are faithfully carried out in our country. And if someone thinks the laws are wrong, then they should go to Congress," he stated.
This week, President Donald Trump issued an government order that takes steps to maintain households from being separated at the border. Critics say the administration was pressured to make the change and Sessions acknowledged the adverse optics.
"It hasn't been good and the American people don't like the idea that we are separating families," he stated. "We never really intended to do that. What we intended was to make sure that adults who bring children into the country are charged with the crime that they have committed."
Session stated the government order is "the right thing," including that the Department of Justice will act in the "most compassionate way possible."
"We're saying, 'We are going to keep you together. We're going to do our best in every way possible to protect the family unit and give you a fair adjudication, a claim of asylum if you make it,' and then that is the way we will process these cases," he defined. "I think that's right and just."
Sessions stated the plan is to not maintain unlawful immigrant households in a detention heart for months on finish.
"It's not indefinite really," Sessions instructed CBN News. "Because we can't hold and we will not be holding people for extended periods of time awaiting a hearing on asylum."
Regarding the inspector common's report on the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a non-public electronic mail server, Sessions stated the DOJ is "digesting it carefully," including that the inspector common was "open, critical at points, and reported truth."
Sessions additionally weighed in on the steps he is taken to weed out points at the FBI.
"We've got a new FBI director, a new deputy director, a new chief of staff, a new legal counsel, a new press person," Sessions stated.
"Too many leaks coming out of this," he continued. "(FBI Director) Chris Wray is a man of integrity and ability and he is in his own proper step-by-step way improving the FBI, addressing the concerns."
"And I think the American people need to know not only are our agents throughout America first-rate American patriots, as you will find anywhere," he stated. "But we are going to improve the headquarters here in Washington."
You can see extra of Brody's interview with Sessions on Friday's version of "The 700 Club."