NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – The U.S. attorney general has reaffirmed the Trump Administration’s call for a border wall with Mexico and for a switch to a “merit-based” immigration system. Speaking Friday before law enforcement officials in Norfolk, Virginia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reiterated the president’s contention that ending the so-called chain-migration system would make the country safer.

Sessions said the administration wants to “welcome the best and brightest” while banning what he called “child abusers” and “drunk drivers.” He spoke against a system that he said favors nearly anyone with an American relative. Sessions did not make himself available for questions after his speech in Norfolk. He made his remarks just days after news broke that he was interviewed last week as part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation.