President Trump said Wednesday that illegal immigrants are “pouring up” to the U.S. because “our economy is so strong.”
Trump made the remarks while hosting an event at the White House to denounce California’s policy of noncooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Trump’s presidency began with a sharp drop in migrant apprehensions along the Mexican border, attributed to Trump’s anti-illegal immigration rhetoric. The numbers, however, surged this year.
“We have the worst laws anywhere in the world for illegal immigration,” Trump told the gathering of local officials from California, specifically criticizing “catch and release” policies.
[Related: Anti-illegal immigration lawyers come to Trump’s defense, ‘long overdue’]
Still, Trump said, “We do better than anybody and our numbers are much better than in the past, but they are not nearly acceptable.”
“We’re down 40 percent from those other standards … meaning 40 percent crossings,” he said, appearing to refer to statistics from 2017 showing a 40 percent drop in border apprehensions compared to 2016.
Reflecting the recent increases, border apprehensions in April 2018 were 223 percent higher than in April 2017, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“Part of the problem that we have is that our economy is so strong that people are pouring up to get into our economy. They want a piece of our economy, and that makes the job even tougher,” Trump said, without specifically acknowledging an increase in illegal immigration.
