President Donald Trump returned to Long Island to highlight the region’s spate of MS-13 gang-related deaths as part of his push for stricter immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump came to Long Island on Wednesday for the second time in less than a year to put the spotlight on brutal acts of violence attributed to the MS-13 gang, while promoting his agenda to close “loopholes” in immigration laws.

“These are not people — these are animals, and we have to be very, very tough,” the president said at an afternoon roundtable discussion, continuing to use a term for gang members that has drawn heat from critics.

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But it was the parents of the two murdered Long Island teens — 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas — who most poignantly expressed what is at stake.

Trump, who grew up across the Nassau border in Queens: "I essentially grew up on LI...this use to be where you leave your doors unlocked..." says it's "unthinkable" that some neighborhoods are now like "occupied territories." — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 Rob Mickens, father of slain teen Nisa Mickens: "There's people everyday who question what the president says...they’re not seeing the bigger picture...we can’t have children killing children anymore." — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 "They're horrible, vicious, rotten murderers," @RepPeteKing says of MS-13 members. — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 Trump just said MS-13 killed a cop in Nassau. In fact the gang directed its members to murder a county or Town of Hempstead officer but have yet to follow through on the threat — Robert Brodsky (@BrodskyRobert) May 23, 2018

They spoke about having to persevere after a loss beyond measure: the murder of their daughters in Brentwood in September 2016. The girls were assaulted with baseball bats and a machete, in brutality that showed the ruthlessness of MS-13.

“We have to go through this every day,” said Robert Mickens, Nisa’s father. “This is an ongoing struggle. It’s not easy for us to wake up, look down the hallway, and not see my daughter lying in her bed and me waking her up for school.”

Two birthdays have passed since his daughter’s death, he said; she would have been graduating this year.

“It’s one thing for children to have a little argument, a little fistfight, walk away the next day,” Mickens reflected, “but to murder another student, a fellow classmate that you see every day, you are not in my opinion, you are not an ordinary human.”

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He said the community should rally behind law enforcement to help put gang members “where they belong, in prison.”

Trump presided over what had been billed as an immigration roundtable, a conversation in which administration voices, local police agencies and legislators spoke about anti-gang efforts and the challenges ahead.

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The president watched attentively and nodded as the parents described their sorrows. At one point he put his arm over Evelyn Rodriguez, Kayla’s mother, to comfort her. Before he left, he also greeted other relatives of victims in the audience.

Rob Mickens, father of Nisa Mickens, paints a picture of life after his daughter was slain by MS-13: "We’ve missed two birthdays of hers." Notes she would have graduated from Brentwood High this year. — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 "fantastic people" Trump whispers to parents of slain Brentwood teens Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens as he enters room and greets them. The parents had already met Trump earlier in January when he invited them to attend State of the Union address — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 "No body would be that crazy to run against Peter," -- Trump says in introducing @RepPeteKing. Gives King his endorsement. — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 President @realDonaldTrump arriving for today’s #immigration roundtable. pic.twitter.com/xKpVqUEOAM — Víctor Manuel Ramos (@vmramos) May 23, 2018

Rodriguez called for schools to work to intervene early and seek law enforcement’s help to stop the gangs, while calling for tighter regulation on the release of young immigrants who come to the country as unaccompanied minors and are vulnerable to gang recruitment.

“My daughter, Kayla, was a beautiful girl,” Rodriguez said, her voice breaking. “She had dreams, and they took that away from her. That’s not right. And how these kids were murdered, tortured, is unacceptable.”

Elizabeth Alvarado, Nisa’s mom, spoke through tears about enduring the sadness of waiting every day for her daughter to return from school. Freddy Cuevas, Kayla’s dad, struggled to get out the words, thanking Trump “from the bottom of my heart.”

Reps. Peter King (R-Seaford), Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) and Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island) joined Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart and Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder along with administration officials, sitting at a horseshoe-shaped table inside the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage.

Trump says U.S. will look to "deduct" U.S. aid funding to Central American countries not working to stop illegal migration flow to U.S. "We’re looking at our whole aid structure, and it’s going to change very radically." — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018 As Trump speaks at MS-13 discussion, protest against him has broken up. Maria Magdalena Hernandez, a Salvadoran immigrant from Brentwood, site of several MS-13 murders, said Trump is “using this tragedy to advance his agenda of hate.” — David Olson (@DavidOlson11) May 23, 2018 Mickens notes the U.S. is a nation of immigrants but adds: "The American dream is still there, but if you’re going to come here with acts of violence, then you can stay over there...because we don’t need that..." https://t.co/0T1pn6wGNm — Laura Figueroa Hernandez (@Laura_Figueroa) May 23, 2018

Behind them were the American flag and the dual messages “Protect our communities” and “Secure our borders.”

Many of the participants’ concerns seemed to touch on the influx of unaccompanied minors — children, primarily from Central America, who cross the border seeking refuge in the United States and are targeted by the same gangs they flee. Thousands have been resettled on Long Island under laws that afford them humanitarian protections.

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The president did not shy away from criticizing Democrats for not supporting his agenda of tough enforcement.

“Crippling loopholes in our laws have enabled MS-13 gang members and other criminals to infiltrate our communities, and Democrats in Congress refuse to close these loopholes, including the disgraceful practice known as catch and release,” Trump said.

Trump also stated — erroneously — that MS-13 members had “killed a cop for the sake of making a statement.” The Long Island police were on high alert last month after MS-13 threatened to kill police in retaliation for gang members’s arrests, but no such incident has taken place.

Protesters, who demonstrated outside the venue but dispersed before Trump arrived, said they saw the roundtable as a pretense to bolster immigration restrictions based on fear.

María Magdalena Hernandez, a Salvadoran immigrant who lives in Brentwood, said the president “doesn’t care about Brentwood” and is using MS-13 as an excuse to promote hard-line policies and deport non-criminals. “In reality, they’re using this tragedy to advance his agenda of hate.”

Local law enforcement officials said they welcomed the support from the White House, and spoke of fighting back to crush MS-13.

Nassau’s Ryder said his department had identified about 500 MS-13 members, of whom about 250 were active. He asked for improvements in information-sharing with local police. “If our intelligence is better, if our evidence-based approach is better, and our community relations stay strong, we can make a difference and turn the tide,” Ryder said.

Hart said the work of Suffolk police’s with federal law enforcement has brought about 355 arrests of 235 MS-13 gang members since Nisa and Kayla were killed. “We could certainly use additional funding to assist in offsetting additional policing efforts and costs moving forward,” she said.

The administration did not outline any specific proposals, but King said later that something is in the works.

“We are hoping to get an immigration bill in June and get as much enforcement there as we can,” said King, adding that would include measures to address the release of unaccompanied minors and more funding for a border wall. Congress could also extend protections to immigrants under expiring programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, he said.

Helen Vesik, 64, a West Hempstead resident and Trump supporter who was among guests, said she was both moved and alarmed by the parents’ stories and hoped something was done. She favors allowing people to immigrate legally, but thinks the president is right in pushing back against the gang.

“I think he really is trying to help stop the lawlessness,” Vesik said, so “that it won’t really affect our society too much to the point where our daily lives won’t be the same.”

— With David Olson, David M. Schwartz and Laura Figueroa Hernandez