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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will travel to Portland to meet with local law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sept. 19, WW has learned.
Sessions, President Donald J. Trump's top law enforcement officer, earned a reputation as a hawk on drug and immigration policies as a federal prosecutor and later, a U.S. senator from Alabama.
He recently proposed an end to the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) program, a position that his boss now seems intent on undercutting.
Sessions was the first GOP senator to endorse Trump for president, a move that endeared him to the then-candidate.
Since becoming Trump's Attorney General, however, Sessions has fallen out of favor, according to the New York Times and other media, because he recused himself from the Department of Justice's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian interests.
On Thursday, the Times reported that Trump excoriated Sessions in a May meeting, calling him an "idiot" and prompting Sessions to offer his resignation.
Trump rejected that resignation, and now Sessions is the administration's leading hardliner on immigration. Sessions has been sharply critical of sanctuary cities such as Portland, where local officials decline to notify federal immigration authorities when they release undocumented immigrants from custody.
In Portland, Sessions will address a group of law enforcement leaders on Tuesday, sources say. He'll also meet U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams and his staff, who are his employees.
Sessions' speech will not be open to the public. A DOJ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.