On the 500th day of the Trump Administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph announced that the Department of Justice is taking a dramatic step to increase resources to combat violent crime, enforce our immigration laws and help roll back the devastating opioid crisis.

In the largest increase in decades, the Department of Justice is allocating 311 new Assistant U.S. Attorneys to assist in priority areas. Those allocations are as follows: 190 violent crime prosecutors, 86 civil enforcement prosecutors, and 35 additional immigration prosecutors. Many of the civil enforcement AUSAs will support the newly created Prescription Interdiction & Litigation Task Force, which targets the opioid crisis at every level of the distribution system.

“Under President Trump’s strong leadership, the Department of Justice is going on offense against violent crime, illegal immigration, and the opioid crisis—and today we are sending in reinforcements,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “We have a saying in my office that a new federal prosecutor is ‘the coin of the realm.’ When we can eliminate wasteful spending, one of my first questions to my staff is if we can deploy more prosecutors to where they are needed. I have personally worked to re-purpose existing funds to support this critical mission, and as a former federal prosecutor myself, my expectations could not be higher. These exceptional and talented prosecutors are key leaders in our crime-fighting partnership. This addition of new Assistant U.S. Attorney positions represents the largest increase in decades.”

In the Western District of Louisiana, two of these AUSAs will focus on prosecuting violent crime and one will focus on civil enforcement of federal law.

“Upon taking office, I promised to aggressively prosecute violent crime throughout the district while ensuring immigration offenses, public corruption, and our efforts to stem the opioid epidemic remain top priorities,” Joseph stated. “These additional prosecutors will assist in achieving our objectives by bringing more criminal prosecutions against those who threaten the safety and wellbeing of our citizens. These positions also give our office more capacity to pursue those who abuse government benefits and otherwise cheat the United States, by bringing civil actions against them. I want to thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the opportunity to hire additional Assistant United States Attorneys to serve the communities in our district. We will work with our federal agencies as well as our state and local partners to ensure we make the most of these added resources.”