WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump called Sunday for immediately deporting illegal immigrants entering the United States with “no Judges or Court Cases.”
In a string of Twitter comments, Trump declared, “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country…,” contending that “Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order.”
The U.S. leader claimed that the U.S. immigration law is “laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting on line for years.”
The American Civil Liberties Union responded to Trump’s tweets by saying the system he wants goes against the protections provided by the U.S. Constitution.
“What President Trump suggested here is both illegal and unconstitutional. Any official who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws should disavow it unequivocally,” the rights group said.
The United States for years has granted court hearings to migrants fleeing from Mexico and Central American countries, and from elsewhere in the world, and looking for better economic fortunes in the United States.
Trump’s tough demand to end that legal process would face stiff opposition in Congress, which for years has been stalemated on changes to U.S. immigration policies and unable to enact new migration laws.
He renewed his demand that “Immigration must be based on merit – we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!”
Placing blame on Democrats
Earlier, Trump again blamed opposition Democrats for the impasse over U.S. immigration policies[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]”Democrats, fix the laws. Don’t RESIST,” Trump said on Twitter. He declared that his administration is “doing a far better job” than that of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in controlling illegal immigration, “but we need strength and security at the Border! Cannot accept all of the people trying to break into our Country. Strong Borders, No Crime!”
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, argued his party needed to “fix the laws.”
“The Republicans are in charge of the House of Representatives. There are 240 of them. I am in the minority. They are in charge of the Senate. The Democrats are in the minority,” Gutierrez said.
“They [Republicans] control the White House. They control the administration. They control every facet of government. And yet they say: ‘Why do not the Democrats fix the problem?’” he said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Republican Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told CNN, “This is a mess that goes back decades. We don’t have the capacity to handle all the migrants showing up” at the U.S. border.
The Trump administration on Wednesday reversed its controversial practice of separating detained children and parents at the border.
Reunification process
Federal officials say they have reunited more than 500 migrant children who were separated from their parents under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy for illegal entry into the United States.
“Our people are actually doing a very good job handling a very difficult situation. This is a problem that should have been solved years ago,” Trump said.
The president’s amended policy drew praise from allies on Capitol Hill.
“Let us keep families together, but let us not inadvertently or unintentionally reinstate the broken ‘catch-and-release’ policies, which simply serve as a magnet for more illegal immigration,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adversal-728×90″]
Democrats, meanwhile, continued to heap scorn on the policy.
“It makes no sense to throw the book at parents who come to the border with their kids because they are fleeing violence and death threats. There is no requirement, none, to prosecute every border case as a criminal case,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is planning to vote this week on comprehensive immigration policy changes after last week defeating a tougher version of new immigration controls.
Also last week, Trump signed an executive order maintaining his “zero tolerance” policy of detaining and prosecuting everyone entering the country illegally, but ending the practice of separating immigrant parents and children.
Logistical questions about those being detained have sent multiple government agencies in search of solutions, including how to provide housing.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters traveling with him on a trip to China that the Pentagon is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security to build temporary camps on two military bases. He said he could not yet name them, but promised to provide those details Monday.
He said military personnel do not play any enforcement role that is carried out by DHS, but have experience in supporting refugees and victims of natural disasters.
“This is something that we can do, again whether it be refugee boat people from Vietnam, people who have been knocked out of their homes by a hurricane, absolutely it’s appropriate the military provide logistics support however it’s needed,” Mattis said.
Trump’s latest immigration comments came hours after the Homeland Security department said it knows the location of 2,053 children it is holding who were separated from their parents in recent weeks as they entered the country illegally along its southern border with Mexico, and is now working to reunite the families.
The agency said late Saturday 522 children have been returned to their parents, with many of them held together in detention centers while they await court proceedings to consider their bids for asylum in the United States.
But how quickly the remaining reunifications might occur remains an open question. A processing center in the southwestern state of Texas has been set up for the reunifications, which could lead to the deportation of some of the families.
Capitol Hill correspondent Michael Bowman contributed to this report.
Source: VOA
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