Attorney General Jeff Sessions Wants To Send Poor People To Prison

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is back at it, keeping pace with congressional Republicans on an extremist agenda that aims to hurt any and all Americans that aren’t rich, white, cisgender, Christian, and male. The Washington Post reported Monday that Sessions is rescinding an Obama-era letter to local courts advising them to refrain from “imposing stiff fees and penalties” on defendants who are poor.

What exactly is the motivation behind this move? It appears to mean that Sessions thinks that Americans who cannot afford to pay fees imposed by courts should go to prison. Debtor’s prison supposedly does not exist in the United States.

Sessions, like the rest of the Trump administration and a good majority of Republicans in Congress, appears to want to move America back in time. Sessions is rescinding the guidance along with nearly two-dozen documents doing back to the 1990s on a variety of topics.

Sessions’ statement is actually ridiculous. He says the move will do away with:

“…The long-standing abuse of issuing rules by simply publishing a letter or posting a web page.”

Isn’t Sessions doing the same thing when he rescinds those same documents? Jeff Sessions wants to send poor Americans to prison when they can’t pay their fees. And it will be allowed to happen just because he has decided to revoke a piece of guidance (which, notably, was put in place by a Black man).

“Congress has provided for a regulatory process in statute, and we are going to follow it. This is good government and prevents confusing the public with improper and wrong advice.”

And giving no advice at all, also known as deregulation, allows for the abuse of power. As many Americans expected upon his appointment, the ability to abuse power seems to be exactly what Jeff Sessions wants. Make America White Again?

Obama’s penned the letter in good faith. In fact, he penned it with the best interests of Americans at heart. Nobody should go to prison because they’re poor. The letter stated that the department had a “strong interest” in protecting the rights of citizens. It addressed local courts and chief judges in every state. The White House even held a summit on the issue.

As we all know, the ability to go to prison for being in debt will fuel the already rampant incarceration pipeline, which overwhelmingly impacts communities of color, namely the black community.

Jeff Sessions may very well be a bigot, but he’s not stupid. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

Featured Image Via Washington Post Video.