11/7/18, 16(23Sessions welcomes restoration of asset forfeiture: "I love that program" - CBS News

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Sessions welcomesrestoration of assetforfeiture: "I love thatprogram"

Last Updated Sep 1, 2017 4:49 PM EDT

Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed the restoration of the practice of assetforfeiture Friday in a speech at a law enforcement conference in Alabama.

"I love that program," Sessions said. "We had so much fun doing that, taking drugdealers' money and passing it out to people trying to put drug dealers in jail.What's wrong with that?"

Sessions, reviewing some of the steps the DOJ has taken recently under his watch,went off script from his prepared remarks to express his excitement about therestoration of the controversial practice. Asset forfeiture allows law enforcementto seize property suspected to be connected to a crime, even without anindictment. During former President Barack Obama's administration, then-Attorney General Eric Holder restricted the ability of the federal government toshare in the assets local authorities seized. But Sessions in July brought theprogram back in full swing, allowing police to seize assets, even in states that haveoutlawed asset forfeiture, if they give some of the proceeds to the federalgovernment. That practice of "adoption" has been used to seize $1 billion in assetsover the last decade.

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Sessions' decision to reinstate the program triggered bipartisan backlash, but hismention of the program's return to law enforcement personnel Friday elicitedapplause. Sessions recognized that some critics don't like the program, althoughhe said he didn't understand why.

"Well, they don't like it. I'm amazed, these people don't get it. We had a reform inearly 2001," Sessions said, mentioning he reached a legislative deal for somereforms to the program with Sen. Chuck Schumer when he was also a senator.

That legislation, "made some things that tightened it up, relieved some of theconcerns from our libertarians, I thought," Sessions added. "But here they're backagain, and actually curtailed this program for the last several years, but we'regoing to keep it out there and as long as we can, we will be doing it.

"And I know you'll do it in an honorable and effective way and not abuse thesystem," Sessions added. "But taking ill-gotten gains from drug dealers is the rightthing, as far as I'm concerned, and we're going to emphasize that in every waythat's appropriate."

Asset forfeiture has long been criticized by civil liberties advocates onconstitutional grounds. The program is also criticized because people who havetheir homes, cars or cash seized wrongly have a difficult time getting those assetsback. The DOJ's own watchdog also recently found that many local policedepartments depend on the funding from seized assets.

Sessions also praised the return of a program that allows police forces to useexcess military equipment, such as tanks and artillery. Obama's DOJ had alsocurtailed that program.

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Kathryn WatsonKathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital.

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