Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump on Friday attempted to clarify what he said the day before, when he claimed rocks thrown by migrants crossing into the United States would be considered the same as gunfire.

"They won't have to fire," Trump said, referring to the military's response to the hypothetical rock throwing. "What I don't want is I don't want people throwing rocks. It's turned out, in fact, it was just announced by (the Department of) Homeland Security, you have in just certain areas over 300 people that they know are trouble. What they did to Mexican military is disgrace."

"They were throwing rocks in their face. They do that with us, they're going to be arrested. There's going to be a problem. I didn't say shoot," he said. "They do that with us they're going to be arrested for a very long time."

"If our soldiers or Border Patrol or ICE are going to be hit in the face with rocks, we're going to arrest those people. That doesn't mean shoot them. But we're going to arrest those people quickly and for a long time," Trump added.

But on Thursday, the President suggested that the US troops he dispatched to the US-Mexico border could fire on someone in the migrant caravan if the person threw rocks at them.

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