Story highlights The steps could substantially increase the number of cases brought against undocumented immigrants

The moves raise the stakes for the appointment of US attorneys in border districts

Washington (CNN) The Justice Department announced Tuesday it would take further steps to up prosecutions against undocumented immigrants -- the latest in a series of steps by the Trump administration to more aggressively enforce immigration laws.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to the US-Mexico border at Nogales, Arizona, to make the announcement with Customs and Border Protection personnel, calling the measures a move against "filth" like gangs and "criminal aliens."

"It is here, on this sliver of land, where we first take our stand against this filth," Sessions was to say, according to a copy of his speech from the Justice Department, though he left the words "against this filth" out of his spoken remarks.

In sum, the measures could substantially increase the number of cases brought against undocumented immigrants, and escalate the nature of charges brought against them, also raising the stakes for the appointment of US attorneys in border districts.

Sessions also issued a memo to federal prosecutors that would up charges against undocumented immigrants. Among the measures was more heavily prosecuting smugglers and traffickers under statutes against transportation and harboring, prosecuting more cases of fraud and identity theft, and more aggressively going after people who enter the US illegally.

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