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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday called on federal prosecutors in Georgia and across the nation to take aim at illegal immigration.

In a three-page memo he sent the nations U.S. attorneys, Sessions told them to prioritize prosecuting people caught smuggling others into the U.S.; illegally reentering the country after being deported; committing identify theft and document fraud; and assaulting immigration enforcement officers.

An estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. Of those, 250,000 were in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell area.

For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era, Sessions told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials during a visit to the southwest border in Arizona Tuesday. This is the Trump era. The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia declined to comment about how his office would implement Sessions mandate.

A Washington-based immigrant advocacy group said Sessions directive would sow fear and chaos.

Criminalizing immigration violations among individuals who are peaceably living in and contributing to our communities only will sow fear and chaos, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. Immigration enforcement should prioritize violent criminals and traffickers. Yet this new policy does just the opposite by requiring federal prosecutors to prioritize immigration violations rather than violent criminals and threats to community safety.

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AG to federal prosecutors: Get tough on illegal immigration - Atlanta Journal Constitution