Donald Trump says he ‘has to take children away’ from migrants amid global outcry over his immigration policy
Republican and Democrat governors have recalled border troops; politicians from both sides have denounced the policy; and Mexico and Canada have weighed in
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has led to thousands of migrant families being split, saying it is the only effective way to fight illegal immigration.
“I don’t want children taken away from parents,” he told a gathering of small business owners, before adding: “When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. We don’t have to prosecute them, but then we are not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That’s not good.”
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Trump made the remarks as outcry over his policies grew both in the US and internationally, with Canada and Mexico among the countries blasting the White House for the policy.
US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the administration announced its push to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, regardless of whether they were seeking asylum.
Since children cannot be sent to the facilities where their parents are held, they are separated from them.
A chorus of critics – rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and some within the president’s own Republican Party – are demanding an immediate end to the family separations. But a defiant Trump has vowed America will not become a “migrant camp.”
“We don’t want people pouring into our country,” he told Tuesday’s gathering. “We want ultimately a merit-based system where people come in based on merit.”