Donald Trump has complained that US border troops cannot “get a little rough” with migrants because “everybody would go crazy”.

The president lamented that his military “can’t act like they would normally act” by being heavy-handed with refugee families.

He blamed “horrible laws that Democrats will not change” and said he was considering deploying more troops to the Mexico border to stop migrants attempting to cross into the US.

Speaking to reporters in Texas, Mr Trump said: “I’m going to have to call up more military.

"But our military, don’t forget, can’t act like a military would act because if they get a little rough, everybody would go crazy. So our military can’t act like they would normally act, or let’s say another military from another country would act.

“We have all these horrible laws that the Democrats will not change, they won’t change them. And I think they are going pay a very big price in 2020 for all of the things. I think the border is going to be an incredible issue.”

Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Show all 8 1 /8 Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Checkpoint in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico Reuters photographer Edgard Garrido: "A small Honduran child cried as the oppressive heat, uproar from the surrounding crowd and hours of waiting with his mother to enter Mexico legally became too much to bear. The image conveys the plight faced by many families traveling with children in tow, where fatigue, uncertainty, and the elements have an added level of drama." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Mexico border gate in Tecun Uman, Guatemala Reuters photographer Carlos Garcia Rawlins: "This picture of men trying to pull down the Mexican border gate seems to symbolize the struggle at the heart of this story: the tension between the urge to find a better life and governments' attempts to control borders. Hundreds of migrants had gathered at dawn on the bridge that marks the border between Guatemala and Mexico. They hoped the guards would open the gates and let them pass through as they moved towards the United States. But the gates stayed locked and as the day wore on tensions rose and tempers frayed." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Crossing the river from Guatemala to Mexico Reuters photographer Leah Mills: "In this image, the young man holding the child looks so exhausted and you can see others clutching all their worldly possessions. To me this shows how desperate these people are. They are willing to cross rivers with strong currents, to lose any belongings they had, to struggle through the water with their children." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Resting on the roadside in Tapanatepec, Mexico Reuters photographer Hannah McKay: "I took this photograph at the end of my first day in Mexico covering the migrant caravan story. It was late in the evening and the migrants were bedding down for their second night in the town of San Pedro Tapanatepec, having walked 28 miles from Arriaga to get there the previous day. I came across this man sitting on the roadside beside a police car, watching as the officers helped settle the other migrants. Come darkness, these people sleep wherever they can to rest as much as possible before the cycle of walking begins again. The determination of the migrants to reach the United States is apparent. They are in good health, their spirits are high and they are hopeful that there is a better life for them at the end of this journey." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Crossing the Guatemala-Mexico border via the river Reuters photographer Adrees Latif: “In the river, dozens of migrant men had locked arms to make a snake-like human cordon from the Guatemalan side to Mexico, so no-one would get swept by its powerful pull. With one camera in hand and a 35 mm lens, I broke into the cordon to photograph the last group of migrants crossing. A family that had made it to the middle of the river was handing their children to other men to help them reach the shore. As a man grabbed the girl in front of me, I followed him, photographing, as he carried her to safety. Moments later, the last set of migrants crossed, and the men who had locked hands in the cordon all swam towards Mexico and started celebrating that the caravan had made it." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Hitchhiking along the highway in Guatemala Reuters photographer Jose Cabezas: "I've seen a lot of children in the caravan, and in every boy and girl, I couldn't help but see the face of my own six-year-old son. I could feel the parents' fear, the frustration of not being able to give them a decent life. While trying to reach a caravan of Salvadoran migrants in the early hours of Nov. 1, we found a group of migrants sleeping on the side of the road. At dawn they started walking, hoping to get a lift. Eventually a small pickup stopped, and the driver said that he was only going to take mothers with children. At that moment I could see the uncertainty on the faces of the children who did not know what was happening." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Hiking in the forest after crossing the Lempa river, the border line between Honduras and Guatemala Reuters photographer Jorge Cabrera: "A Honduran family with the father in front, a mother with child, and an aunt, carrying all their belongings, scramble up a hill in the jungle after crossing the Lempa river from Honduras into Guatemala. The family, part of a group of some 150 migrants fleeing violence and poverty back home, decided to wade across the river after seeing that Honduran authorities had formed a human wall, blocking the border crossing. For me this image underscores the fact that you can get as far as your feet will take you." Reuters Central American migrants trek north to seek a better life Checkpoint in Guatemala Reuters photographer Ueslei Marcelino: "The migrants had already broken through the first police barricade on the Guatemalan side of the bridge. After a while, they moved towards the second barricade on the Mexican side. The push by the migrants to enter Mexico had eased and suddenly women and children formed a line and started to walk towards the police. There was a bit of pushing and shoving, and then things started to get increasingly chaotic. It was a march that turned into a protest and ended up in confusion. Of course, it affected me. I'm also a father of a nine-year-old girl. It was impossible not to think about being that father caught up in that panicked situation. After taking the photo, I took others of families coming out of the restrictive cordon created by police. The confusion was brought under control after gas was used to disperse them, and the migrants were pushed back to the Guatemalan side." Reuters

Mr Trump went on to depict migrants – many of whom have fled poverty, violence or persecution in Latin America – as criminals who would murder Americans and steal their homes.

He said: “Think of these people – supposing I said, let’s have an open border – they will flood your houses, they will shoot you, they’ll take over your house, they’ll take your car and they’ll probably stay there.”

Mr Trump plans to aggressively push for tougher screening that will make it far more difficult for migrants fleeing persecution in their home countries to secure asylum in the US, a senior administration official said this week.

The president is reportedly also considering resuming the controversial policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border.