At the swearing-in ceremony for Jeff Sessions to become Attorney General, President Donald Trump desrcibed new executive orders to combat Mexican cartels, to reduce violent crime, and to attempt to stop crimes against law enforcement officers. He said that cartels and drug dealers were "poisoning the blood of our children."



"Your day is over," Trump said to drug dealers and cartels. "A new era of Justice begins. And it begins right now."



After Sessions was sworn in, he spoke:





SESSIONS: Mr. President, thank you for this great honor. It's something I never expected would happen in my life. But I do love the Department of Justice. I care about its traditions and its heritage. I had 15 years in that great department, and the honor to lead it now is something that I do not have words to express effectively.



There are a lot of things that we need to do. First, we need to value and support and encourage the fabulous people who work there. I've worked with them over the years. I know how good they are, and their talents need to be directed at this nation's benefit in a lot of different ways.



We have a crime problem. I wish the blip -- I wish the rise that we're seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or a blip. My best judgment, having been involved in criminal law enforcement for many years, is that this is a dangerous, permanent trend. It places the health and safety of the American people are risk.



We will deploy the talents and abilities of the Department of Justice in the most effective way possible to confront this rise in crime and to protect the people of our country.

Sessions also thanked his colleagues after his confirmation vote in the Senate last night: