Trump defends 'zero-tolerance-policy' towards immigration, urges Congress to change laws
US President Donald Trump defended his administration's "zero-tolerance" policy towards immigration, blaming the opposition Democrats for the current mess. He has asked the Congress to change the "ridiculous" laws. According to the Department of Homeland Security, under Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents and guardians and placed into holding facilities between 19 April-31 May 2018. Here's more.
Trump blames opposition Democrats for loopholes in existing laws
Trump blamed the opposition Democrats for the loopholes in the existing laws. "They (Democrats) don't care about crime and want illegal-immigrants to infest America, like MS-13. They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters," Trump said. Trump called for arresting anyone who enters the country illegally. "If you don't have borders, you don't have a country," he said.
Here is the video of Trump defending 'zero-tolerance' policy
Examples of crime in other countries due to immigrants
"We must always arrest people coming into our country illegally. Of the 12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous trip, and only 2000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our country illegally," Trump said. He said crime in Germany is up by over 10% since migrants were accepted and other countries are worse.
Illegal-immigrant families can't be detained together due to loopholes: Trump
Later addressing the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Trump alleged that as a result of the Democrat-supported loopholes in the federal laws, most illegal immigrant families cannot be detained together, but only released. "As a result of these loopholes, roughly half a million illegal-immigrant family units from Central America have been released into the US since 2014, an unbelievably great taxpayer expense," Trump said.
435% increase in smuggling of families into America
Trump alleged that child smugglers exploit the loopholes by gaining illegal entry into America. There has been a 325% increase in minors, and a 435% increase in smuggling or attempted smuggling of families and minors into America. He said there were only two policy options to respond to this massive crisis: either release all illegal immigrant families or arrest the adults for illegal entry.
Trump asks Congress for a third option
"We don't want people pouring into our country. We want them to come in through the process, through the legal and merit-based system," Trump said. He also asked the Congress to give a third option. The US President said his administration has been requesting since last year, the legal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit.
