?We need people who will help to Make America Great Again!," President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Trump: 'We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country'

President Donald Trump on Sunday continued escalating his rhetoric about migrants, tweeting, “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country.”

The president wrote on Twitter: "When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came,” presumably confusing “bring” with “send” in that instance. “Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order.”


Trump and allies have increasingly used dehumanizing terms to describe immigration, including language like "infest." At times, his harsh words have been reserved for MS-13 gang members, but in other instances he is not specific as to what he is talking about and conflates migrants coming across the border with the brutal gang.

“Immigration must be based on merit — we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!” he said in his next tweet.

The president and his administration have been under intense criticism since the new "zero tolerance" immigration policy led to the separation of families apprehended after crossing the border illegally. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that he said would end the practice, but former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Sunday that order will likely be overturned by the courts.

As he did last week, Trump complained about the role of judges and the court system in the U.S. immigration process. Since illegal immigration is a federal crime — a misdemeanor for a first instance of illegal border crossing and a felony for someone who has been deported who illegally enters the United States again — the process is handled at the federal level by immigration judges.

The U.S. has an expedited removal process that allows for relatively fast deportation proceedings for people who enter the country illegally, but only if they are citizens of Canada or Mexico. Trump wants to change that.

But the president seemed to call Sunday for denying due process to people apprehended after crossing the border illegally, and he did not seem to draw a distinction for people who arrive at ports of entry seeking asylum, as are many of those now coming from violence-plagued Central American nations. America is party to treaties that govern the treatment of asylum seekers and non-asylum seekers.

An American Civil Liberties Union official blasted Trump's statement, saying the president was suggesting an "illegal and unconstitutional" policy change.

"Any official who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws should disavow it unequivocally," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.