U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that separating migrant families at the border could deter illegal immigration and that he was considering several options to tighten border security.
In June, Trump abandoned his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents on the U.S.-Mexico border after images of youngsters in cages sparked outrage at home and abroad.
But some Trump administration officials have said the policy, under which some 2,600 children were separated from their parents, was needed to secure the border and deter illegal immigration.
Trump seemed to support that argument on October 13.
“If they feel there will be separation, they don’t come,” he said of migrants during comments to reporters at the White House.
Trump also claimed, without providing evidence, that immigrants were “grabbing children and they’re using children to come in to our country in many cases.”
A government audit released earlier this month said the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year was plagued by a lack of preparation, resource shortfalls and communication failures.
Source: Reuters
