President Donald Trump came out strongly against Senate Republican-led efforts for a one-off fix to family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border, which does not contain his broader immigration priorities.
We shouldn’t be hiring judges by the thousands, as our ridiculous immigration laws demand, we should be changing our laws, building the Wall, hire Border Agents and Ice and not let people come into our country based on the legal phrase they are told to say as their password.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2018
Trump appears to be taking direct aim at legislation led by Senator Ted Cruz who introduced a bill which dramatically increases the number of judges to adjudicate asylum claims while ending the practice of family separation. The bill would allow for expedited deportation if an asylum claim is found fraudulent, which the vast majority made by Central Americans are.
“Children belong with their mothers and fathers. Once their cases have been adjudicated — under my legislation, in no longer than 14 days — those who meet the legal standard should be granted asylum and those who don’t should be immediately returned to their home country,” Cruz said while previewing his bill.
Trump meanwhile has ended the family separation practice temporarily at the border with an executive order, though it is unlikely to pass legal muster for much longer. The president has ordered that all illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border be prosecuted, as opposed to a “catch and release” practice of his predecessors.