Trump Again Assails Court Hearings for Illegal Border Crossers
US leader contends lengthy legal reviews are 'not the way to go' and that migrants should be immediately sent home
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday again assailed judicial review for illegal border crossers, contending that the migrants ought to immediately be sent back to their homelands. "We want a system where when people come in illegally, they have to go," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We want strong borders and we want no crime." The said Sunday that the U.S. leader's call to end legal hearings for undocumented immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. was unconstitutional. But Trump rejected that view in a pair of new Twitter comments. "Hiring manythousands [sic] of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go - will always be disfunctional [sic]," he said. "People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally." He contended that if children and their parents are sent home, "illegal immigration will be stopped in it's [sic] tracks - and at very little, by comparison, cost. This is the only real answer - and we must continue to BUILD THE WALL!" White House press secretary Sarah Sanders argued Monday that "it makes no sense that an illegal alien sets one foot on American soil and they would go through a three- to five-year judicial process to be removed from the country." She said there are designated points of entry that asylum seekers can use to apply for asylum. "Anyone that goes to a point of entry seeking asylum will not be prosecuted. We would encourage people to use the correct system and not break the law," she said. Also Monday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump has chosen an Army base and an Air Force base, both in Texas, to house detained migrants. Mattis told reporters Monday during a trip to Alaska that the military will "provide whatever support the Department of Homeland Security needs in order to house the people that they have under their custody." He did not give further specifics about how many migrants the camps will hold. Mattis said the military would provide logistics support and would not get into the "political aspect" of the situation. He said the U.S. military has a long history of providing logistical support to people affected by natural disasters or "escaping tyranny." Last week, Trump signed an executive order maintaining his "zero tolerance" policy of detaining and prosecuting everyone entering the country illegally, but ending the practice of separating immigrant parents and children. Logistical questions about those being detained have sent multiple government agencies in search of solutions, including how to provide housing. The U.S. says it knows the location of 2,053 children it is holding who were separated from their parents in recent weeks as they entered the country illegally along its southern border with Mexico. The U.S. said it is now working to reunite the families. The Department of Homeland Security said recently it has returned 522 children to their parents.