President Trump said Monday that the U.S. will not become “a migrant camp,” as his administration continues to face backlash over a zero tolerance immigration policy that has caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents at the southwest border.
“The United States will not become a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. Won’t be,” the president told White House aides at an event on space policy. “You look at what’s happening in Europe, you look at what’s happening in other places. We can’t allow that to happen in the United States.”
“Not on my watch,” he added.
Trump: “The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility.” pic.twitter.com/Ou5ErHIS79
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 18, 2018
Trump spent a portion of the space council meeting repeating his complaint that Democrats are preventing certain loopholes in immigration law from being changed, a claim that some Republicans began questioning last week.
“We want safety and we want security for our country. If the Democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something done very quickly,” Trump said, suggesting the two parties could negotiate an immigration bill that ends family separation at the border.
[Related: Trump continues to blame Democrats for splitting families at the border]
“What’s happening is so sad, so sad. And it could be taken care of quickly. This could really be something special, it could be something … for the world to watch just like they’re watching our incredible economy,” he said.
The president’s criticism of Democrats comes as House Republicans are trying to attract support for one of two immigration bills introduced last week by GOP leaders and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. The legislation put forward by GOP leaders would put an end to family separation at the border, though it is unlikely to attract Democratic support.
Separating children from their parents has long been a feature of deportation proceedings, but the number of family separations began to spike earlier this year after the Trump administration ordered the criminal prosecution of everyone who crosses into the U.S. illegally. Under the current policy, children are labeled “unaccompanied minors” and transferred to temporary shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services while their parents are prosecuted.
The Department of Homeland Security estimated last week that 11,000 unaccompanied migrant children are currently being held in government facilities, a figure that is likely to rise in the coming months without a legislative fix.
[Also read: Trump administration could be holding 30,000 border kids by August, officials say]
