Attorney General Jeff Sessions while speaking before law enforcement officials outside a federal courthouse in Boston on Thursday called for a crackdown on illegal immigration and the increasing influx of violent criminal gangs into the U.S.. He also blasted those “taking advantage” of the Unaccompanied Alien Children program.

“We are now working with the Department of Homeland Security and [Department of Health and Human Services] to examine the unaccompanied minors issue and the exploitation of that program by gang members who come to this country as wolves in sheep clothing,” Sessions said.

Stressing that the MS-13 gang was using the program as a recruitment tool, Sessions said, “This program continues to place juveniles from Central America into this gang-controlled territory. It is clearly being abused”.

Sessions went on to condemn the actions of the MS-13, a violent gang also known as La Mara Salvatrucha which came to Los Angeles in the 1980s and has settled and committed crimes in U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Boston and New York.

“MS-13 represents some of the worst of the worst when it comes to criminal street gangs,” Sessions said.

The AG said his travels to New York and the “belly of the beast” in El Salvador where the gang is focused “has hardened my resolve that we must contain and dismantle this gang, clique by clique and member by member.”

Sessions, however, asserted that President Trump’s campaign promise of building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, would help prevent violent gang members from entering the U.S. undetected.

“Securing our border, both through a physical wall and with the brave men and women of the border patrol and restoring an orderly and lawful system of immigration is part and parcel of this anti-gang strategy,” Sessions added.

While Sessions was speaking to the law enforcement officials, protesters gathered outside the court with signs saying “Jeff: Go Home” and “Racism is #Notwelcome”.

Adegbite Adedotun