WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo on Wednesday calling on the Justice Department’s Executive Office for immigration Review to take steps to expedite its adjudication of immigration cases.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions departs from a closed door interview with the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The department also said that from February through November, the office’s number of removal orders were up 30 percent over the same time last year, and the percentage of final decisions on cases was up more than 16 percent compared with last year.