President Trump doubled down on his prior assertion that the migrant crisis at the southern border of the United States was a problem he inherited from the previous administration, in an interview that aired Thursday night on Telemundo, his first on a Spanish-language network.
“Obama built the cages. I didn’t build them,” Trump said. “Obama separated; I’m the one who brought them together.”
Responding to the accusation that he had been very tough on immigrants, Trump took umbrage at the terms of the question. “You mean ‘illegal’ immigrants. I’ve been very good to immigrants, but illegal immigrants, yeah … our laws are so bad … the asylum laws are laughed at by anybody in the world who knows anything.”
“I’ve been tough, and yet my poll numbers with Hispanics have gone way up,” Trump then said, citing a recent poll that he claimed showed a 17-point increase in his popularity with Latino voters.
“I inherited separation and I changed the plan. I put people together … I hated to have the separation policy … What ‘Zero Tolerance’ means to me is that we are going to be tough on the border.”
Regarding the Dreamers, Trump said, “The Democrats don’t want to make a deal … I can’t get Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer to do anything for the Dreamers. They will do nothing for the Dreamers. They don’t care about the Dreamers … I am willing to make a deal.”
Asserting that he had no problem with immigrants, Trump said, “I love immigrants. Our country is based on immigrants. I want immigrants to come in.”
