WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was not looking to reinstate his controversial policy of separating migrant families who enter the United States illegally, dismissing media reports that suggested he wanted to do so.

But Trump suggested the policy had been an effective means of stemming border crossings.

"I'll tell you something, once you don't have it, that's why you have many more people coming," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "They are coming like it's a picnic, like 'let's go to Disneyland.'"

Immigration advocacy groups have been bracing for the possibility that the administration would return to the "zero tolerance" policy as it pursues what the president says will be a "tougher direction" on immigration.

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo last year requiring that all immigrants entering the country illegally would be prosecuted. But a 1997 settlement in a federal court case required the U.S. to release child immigrants after 20 days. To meet both commitments, the Trump administration separated children from adults.

Trump backed down under immense pressure, signing an order in June to end family separations.

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