US President Donald Trump said he would not allow the United States to become a “migrant camp” as his administration faced a barrage of criticism for separating immigrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump said during remarks at the White House on Monday.
“You look at what’s happening in Europe,” he continued, “you look at what’s happening in other places – we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”
Earlier Monday Trump barged into an immigration row rocking Europe, where countries have clashed on the issue, saying the continent made a “big mistake” by allowing in migrants.
Democrats and some in Mr Trump’s own Republican Party have admonished the administration for dividing nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks between mid-April and the end of May.
Medical professionals have said the practice could cause lasting trauma to children.
Trump again tried to shift responsibility for the policy because he claimed inaccurately that his administration was simply enforcing the country’s “horrible laws”.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” he said. In a series of tweets earlier on Monday, Trump demanded Congress “CHANGE THE LAWS”.
At a conference in New Orleans on Monday, Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, stood by the enforcement policy providing a pair of speeches.
“We will not apologize for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Nielsen said, addressing a friendly audience at the National Sheriffs’ Association conference.
“Illegal actions have and must have consequences,” she added. “No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards.”
> Shiuly Rina
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