The federal prosecutor’s office in Vermont is going to be adding three more attorneys, increasing its staffing to take on violent crime and the opioid crisis, boost civil enforcements in the state and enforce immigration laws along the northern border.
The announcement of the beefed up resources came from a statement issued U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Attorney for Vermont Christina Nolan.
In total, across the country, the Department of Justices is adding 311 new attorneys to those three priority areas — violent crime, the opioid crisis and immigration enforcement, according to the statement.
“In all areas, is always more work we can be doing,” Nolan said late Monday ‘We only have so many resources. Inevitably, there are cases that we are not doing that could be doing. The addition of AUSAs (assistant U.S. attorneys) will allow us to do more.”
A breakdown of that number of prosecutors for the country shows 190 will be assigned to violent crimes, 86 working in civil enforcement to support the recently created Prescription Interdiction & Litigation Task Force, which targets the opioid crisis throughout the distribution system, and 35 for immigration prosecution.
In the Vermont office, in addition to Nolan and her first assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Doyle, there are currently 18 assistant U.S. attorneys in the office, including 13 dealing with criminal matters and five with a focus on civil areas.
The three new assistant U.S. attorneys who will be joining the office include two more on the criminal side and another for the civil portion.
“It will certainly give us an opportunity to do more work on behalf Vermonters,” Nolan said. “Whether that’s more complex cases, whether you’ll see the number of filings go up, it’s kind of hard to predict because it depends on the complexity of the cases.”
According to Nolan, in Vermont, the additional assistant U.S. attorney for crime will allow the office “to place even greater emphasis on violent criminal conduct, such as homicides, arsons, robberies and other criminality involving the use of firearms.”
Also, on the civil enforcement side, the added position will permit “federal prosecutors to bring powerful civil resources to bear on those who endeavor to obtain federal funds by fraudulent means,” according to Nolan.
That position will also support efforts by the federal government to enhance civil enforcement tools, such as forfeiture laws, “against opioid over-prescribers and pill diverters,” the statement read.
“Finally,” according to the statement, “the addition of a position focused on immigration crime increases the District of Vermont’s capacity to protect the integrity of the northern border and prosecute those who enter or remain in the United States in violation of our nation’s immigration laws.”
Citing the areas the new assistants will focus on as priorities for President Donald Trump, Sessions said in the statement, “The Department of Justice is going on offense against violent crime, illegal immigration, and the opioid crisis — and today we are sending in reinforcements.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont to get three more assistant U.S. attorneys.