Donald Trump called for undocumented immigrants to be deported without first facing trial as he stepped up his hardline rhetoric amid confusion surrounding the US administration’s now-abandoned policy of separating children from their parents at the border.
The president said immigration should be “based on merit” and insisted that people should not be allowed to “invade our Country” as he pushed Democrats to back attempts to harden the laws.
His comments come after US departments revealed that as of June 20 there were 2,053 “separated minors” in government facilities, and that 522 unaccompanied children had been reunited with their parents. The disclosures came in a document explaining the process of reuniting minors with their parents in the wake of the furore over families who illegally cross the border with Mexico being separated.
Mr Trump last week responded to an outcry by ordering officials to stop enforcing a policy that had led to children — some of them infants — being removed from their parents and in some cases transported to detention centres in other states. Despite the U-turn, the president has continued to demand tougher enforcement of immigration laws.
In one of several tweets on Sunday, Mr Trump said: “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order.”
His demand will foster further confusion as lawmakers struggle to agree the best way to handle children who enter the country illegally. The House of Representatives on Thursday voted down an immigration bill that was pushed by hardline conservatives. Mr Trump then tweeted that his party’s lawmakers should “stop wasting their time on Immigration” until after the midterm elections.
Nevertheless, this week further immigration measures are on the agenda on Capitol Hill. Among them are narrow proposals to extend the time that migrant families can be held together. As things stand the authorities are bound by a California court ruling called the “Flores Settlement” that prevents the government from detaining children for more than 20 days.
Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican congressman, said the 20-day limit made it difficult to keep families together, but he accused Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of refusing to support legislation to fix the problem.
However, Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican senator who is critical of Mr Trump, said on ABC News that by criticising Democrats on immigration the president was making it more difficult for them to work with the GOP on reform.
Bob Corker, a Republican senator from Tennessee, told CBS News that while he had wanted to see broader-based immigration reform it may only be possible to push through fixes to “micro-issues”.
The Department of Justice on Thursday asked a California court to alter the 20-day ruling to permit children who have entered the country illegally to be held for longer.
