Trump says 'thieves and murderers' are coming into the US as he responds to outrage over immigration policy
- President Donald Trump pointed blame again at Democrats for the current state of US immigration policy.
- The US has the "worst immigration laws in the world," Trump said.
- Trump has previously blamed Democrats for his administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that separates children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
President Donald Trump continued to blame Democrats for the current state of US immigration Monday, amid rising outcry over his administration's zero-tolerance policy.
Trump was speaking at a press conference for the signing ceremony of a neighborhood development grant act when he said problems with US immigration are "the Democrats' fault."
"The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility," Trump said. "Not on my watch."
But Trump also repeated his past characterization of immigrants, saying they "are thieves and murderers" that bring "death and destruction."
Trump called for Democrats to lean in to reformulating immigration policy, continuing a face-off that's present in several of his recent tweets. He has previously tweeted the Democrats are "weak and ineffective" and refuse to work with Republicans to "fix their forced family breakup at the Border."
"If the Democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something very quickly," Trump said Monday of fixing the "worst immigration laws in the entire world."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy last month after March saw a peak in illegal immigration since Trump took office. Trump echoed his administration's hard line on immigration in his comments Monday, saying "a country without borders is no country at all."
The Washington Post reported Friday that Trump was using the zero-tolerance policy to bring about immigration policy that's more in line with measures he has touted since his 2016 campaign. Trump seemed to hint at major potential reform, saying future US immigration policy could be "something for the world to watch."
Top White House counselor Kellyanne Conway backed up Trump's targeting Democrats this weekend, saying instead of ending the separation policy, he is "ready to get meaningful immigration reform across the board."
However, many lawmakers have spoken out for Trump to end the policy as soon as possible, including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
"President Trump could stop this policy with a phone call," Graham said Friday on CNN. "I'll go tell him. If you don't like families' being separated, you can tell DHS: 'Stop doing it.'"