BOZEMAN – Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Bozeman at the tail end of a 3-day police conference. He spoke for 20 minutes largely on illegal immigration and the dangers it presents for law enforcement but he also made an announcement about new funding for school safety.
Sessions announced the first grants under the STOP School Violence Act will include $50 million in grant money to train teachers and students and develop an anonymous reporting system for threats of school violence. Sessions said an additional $25 million will come in the months following.
Sessions then moved on to the impacts drugs have on American communities. He pointed to Montana statistics of a 400 percent rise in methamphetamine violations in a 5-year span from 2010 to 2015. Session pointed out examples he says show a link between drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
“Officers like you had to arrest them. Officers like you had to go into dangerous situations to take these people off of our streets, people who never should have been here in the first place,” said Sessions. “You shouldn’t have to do that. And to add insult to injury, you’re paying taxes to incarcerate these people.”
Outside the event, protestors held signs in opposition to Sessions’ stance on immigration. Some signs read “Montanans round up cattle not immigrants” and “America is the mother to all immigrants.”
In April, Sessions visited Billings and spoke to police with a focus on drugs.
