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.”
