President Donald Trump insisted that "I have very good information" to support his claim. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Immigration Trump concedes 'no proof' of Middle Easterners in caravan

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that he has "no proof" for his claim that a migrant caravan approaching the U.S. southern border includes "Middle Easterners" but suggested he could eventually back up the assertion.

Pressed by reporters after signing a water bill alongside lawmakers in both parties, Trump said "there's no proof of anything," when asked about his assertions that there are Middle Easterners in the caravan, adding "but there could very well be."


He insisted that "I have very good information" to support his claim.

His administration sought to reorient its condemnation of the migration away from alleged terrorism and toward other alleged criminal activity. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton tweeted that his agency "can confirm that there are individuals within the caravan who are gang members or have significant criminal histories."

DHS did not respond on the record to a request for data supporting that claim. Trump's admission of no evidence for his claim about the caravan came hours after Vice President Mike Pence endorsed his assertion at a Washington Post event, further bolstering the White House's attempt to make political hay out of the migration.

Pence said that "it's inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people." He added that the caravan is "an issue in this election," linking the group of migrants to "traffickers" who are "taking advantage of not only our porous border but loopholes in our laws."

The caravan began heading north from Honduras in recent days and has picked up members from other Central American nations — including families, reportedly traveling in the large group to avoid gang activity. The White House has embraced the migrants as a wedge issue as the GOP battles to limit Democratic gains in next month's midterms, making a political wager that a hardline approach to immigration will rally Trump's base and woo swing voters.

Trump, however, denied on Tuesday that he is highlighting the migrant caravan for political reasons. "I'm a very non-political person," he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Conservative media has amplified Trump's theory about Middle Easterners in the caravan, which appears to stem from an unverified claim by Guatemala's president that his government had apprehended ISIS-linked terrorists before the caravan began forming.

As Pence defended Trump's comment on Tuesday, he stated: "In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border from countries that are referred to in the lexicon as ‘other than Mexico’."

"That," Pence added, "means from the Middle East region."

Asked for data supporting Pence's claim, a DHS spokeswoman said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has prevented "10 known or suspected terrorists from traveling to or entering the United States every day in fiscal year 2017" using land, air, or sea-based modes of transport — not strictly the southern border.

DHS reported in January that the agency "had 2,554 encounters with individuals on the terrorist watchlist" attempting to travel to the United States during fiscal 2017, a number that averages out to about seven individuals per day. That total includes 2,170 attempting to enter by air, 49 by sea and 335 by land, and is not limited to Middle Eastern nations.

Pence press secretary Alyssa Farah said Tuesday that it's reasonable to expect the caravan has "already been infiltrated by individuals with ties to extremism," warning that "those who seek to normalize or sugar-coat this tactic do so risking national security and sovereignty.”

But Scott Simpson of the civil rights group Muslim Advocates was among those warning about the cost to American society of spreading "absurd anti-Muslim conspiracies" such as the one Trump and Pence have endorsed.

"It doesn't matter what their skin color is or how they worship, the nation should follow the law and hear their claims," Simpson said in a statement. "President Trump is inflaming bigotry, and that threatens the very basic freedoms and rights we all hold dear."

The DHS spokeswoman also identified enforcement actions during the current fiscal year against more than 3,000 "special interest aliens" from nations potentially linked to potential terrorist, gang, or other criminal activity. Enforcement actions during the current fiscal year have included that type of migrant from 22 nations, according to DHS, including countries outside the Middle East such as Russia and Indonesia.