Officials say the U.S Attorney's Office in northern Illinois soon will get six new prosecutors.
The new resources will aim to "combat violent crime, enforce federal immigration laws and attack the opioid crisis," according to a release from U.S. Attorney John Lausch Jr., of the northern district of Illinois.
“We welcome the additional resources to reduce violent crime, enforce our country’s immigration laws and fight the opioid epidemic,” U.S. Attorney Lausch said in a statement. “Our Assistant U.S. Attorneys work tirelessly to keep the citizens of northern Illinois safe, and these new positions will strengthen those efforts. We will work quickly to fill these positions with highly skilled, highly motivated attorneys.”
The Department of Justice announced Monday it is allocating 311 positions nationwide — 190 violent crime prosecutors, 86 civil attorneys and 35 immigration prosecutors.
The move is part of a Trump administration effort to fight violent crime, illegal immigration and the opioid crisis.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the new assistant U.S. attorney positions represent the largest increase in decades.
“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," he said in a statement.
