President Donald Trump called on Sunday for the deprivation of illegal immigrants of their due-process rights, arguing that these individuals are invaders and must immediately be deported without trial or an appearance before a judge.
Earlier in the day, Trump took to Twitter, calling immigrants invaders, the U.S. immigration laws “a mockery” and arguing that they must be altered so as to strip undocumented immigrants of their legal rights.
“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents,” Trump wrote.
In a series of other tweets, he maintained the whole world laughed at the U.S. immigration policy and argued that “immigration must be based on merit…to Make America Great Again!”
The President’s comments created confusion among lawmakers who are struggling to reach consensus on immigration legislation, The Washington Post writes.
The House is to vote this week on a broad Republican immigration bill, but despite the support of the White House, the bill is unlikely to pass due to lack of support by Democrats and the GOP’s inability to agree on how restrictive immigration laws should be.
House Republicans failed to pass a hard-line immigration bill last week. They are now preparing to vote on another broad bill this week that would provide $25 billion for President Trump’s long-promised border wall, limit legal immigration and give young undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.
GOP Representative Michael McCaul, who co-sponsored the bill, said on Sunday the President was “still 100 percent behind” the bill. But because it may not get the necessary votes, legislators were preparing to support a narrower bill to end the 1997 Flores settlement which requires that children be released after 20 days. The Republican measure would allow for children and their parents to stay together in detention facilities past 20 days.
“The White House has consistently raised our concern about the Flores settlement with Congress,” said Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs. “It’s, in fact, an issue that previous administrations grappled with also, and we anticipate Congress acting on that sooner rather than later.”
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