The Trump administration is finalizing a plan under which migrants seeking asylum in the United States will have to present themselves at ports of entry, President Trump said Thursday.
“Under this plan, the illegal aliens will no longer get a free pass into our country by lodging meritless claims in seeking asylum,” the president said while giving remarks on the “immigration crisis” at the White House.
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“Instead, migrants seeking asylum will have to present themselves lawfully at a port of entry, so they are going to have to lawfully present themselves at a port of entry,” he added.
Trump didn’t say specifically how or when the change would be made, but he did say he hoped to sign a “comprehensive” executive order on immigration next week.
The president said that under the current system, migrants use “fraudulent or meritless” claims to gain entry into the United States. The migrants, he said, cross the border illegally and present themselves to Border Patrol agents. Then they ask for asylum using “well-coached language” from lawyers, Trump continued.
“They don’t believe in the phrase, but they are given a little legal statement to read, and they read it, and now all of a sudden they’re supposed to qualify, but that’s not the reason they are here,” he said.
Trump said some migrants are making a “mockery” out of U.S. immigration laws and abusing the asylum system. He also disparaged members of the caravan, saying they are “not legitimate asylum seekers.”
“Asylum is not a program for those living in poverty,” Trump said. “There are billions of people in the world living at the poverty level. The United States cannot possibly absorb them all.”
The president’s announcement of his administration’s plan for addressing migrants entering the U.S. comes as a caravan of thousands fleeing violence in Honduras are traveling through Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border.
[Related: Exclusive: 6-in-10 want troops to stop the migrant caravan, 51% Hispanics agree]
Trump has sought to make immigration a focal point of the midterm elections and has seized on the caravan as he works to boost Republican candidates on the ballot. It’s unclear whether the new policy would extend only to those traveling to the southern border with the caravan or to all trying to cross into the U.S.
“The only long-term solution to the [immigration] crisis and the only way to ensure the endurance of our nation as a sovereign country is for Congress to overcome open-borders obstruction,” Trump said. “That’s exactly what it is. It’s open-borders obstruction.”
