President Donald Trump doubled down on his early morning tweetstorm during a speech before the National Space Council on Monday afternoon, when he vowed that the U.S. “will not be a migrant camp.”
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” he said. “It won’t be. You look at what’s happening in Europe, you look at what’s happening in other places, we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”
Trump also continued to blame the Democrats for being “obstructionists” and suggested that all the immigration “problems that we’re having” are Democrats’ “fault.”
Early Monday morning, Trump unleashed on Twitter, making similar comments about Democrats, despite the fact that it is his administration that recently enacted a “zero tolerance” policy at the border that has emboldened border security to arrest, criminally charge and take the children from any migrant adult who illegally comes into the U.S.
Both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have been fiercely defensive of their actions; Nielsen said the U.S. would “not apologize” for taking children from illegal border crossers, and Sessions even admitted that the policy was meant as a deterrent.
While Trump, and notably first lady Melania Trump, have said they don’t want to separate children from their parents, Trump has cited “what’s happening in Europe” as rationale for the tough policies. He demanded on Monday that Democrats need to come to the table and “LAWS NEED TO CHANGE.”
