President Trump continues to blame Democrats for his family separation approach on immigration

David Jackson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Tuesday blame Democrats for his administration's decision to separate families caught trying to cross the border, and signaled continued support for his "zero tolerance" approach that has drawn criticism from both parties.

During a morning tweet storm in which he again misrepresented migrant crime in Germany, Trump said, "Democrats are the problem," and, "They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13."

Trump said his critics see migrants as "potential voters," as lawmakers from both parties continue to denounce the separation of families and the detention of children in what look like cages.

"The law doesn't have to be enforced this way due to prosecutorial discretion," said a tweet by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).

Critics took particular issue with Trump's use of the word "infest" to describe immigrants.

"The 'president' has infested this country with hate & allowed racists & low travelers sunlight," Republican political strategist John Weaver tweeted.

Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2018

#CHANGETHELAWS Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration. Get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have strong border security. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2018

Trump later made immigration the focus of a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. In defending his approach, Trump said, "I don't want children taken away from parents," but "when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away."

Immigration is expected to be on the agenda as Trump travels to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with House Republicans. The president indicated he has no plans to back down from his aggressive enforcement of a "zero tolerance" policy that includes family separations.

"We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally," Trump said in another tweet.

Claiming that 10,000 of 12,000 children in federal custody are sent by their parents "on a very dangerous road trip," Trump said in another post that that "only 2000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions."

Placing the onus on lawmakers, Trump said that "now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration. "

In defending his "zero tolerance" immigration policy, Trump continued to claim falsely that refugees led to a spike of crime in Germany; the German government reports that crime has actually declined in recent years.

In one of his Tuesday tweets, Trump claimed that "officials do not want to report these crimes," though there is no evidence that is happening.

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