President Trump on Monday appeared to dismiss the deaths of two migrants children who died in border patrol custody upon being diagnosed with ailments such as the flu and dehydration, while also railing against an uptick in border crossings after he axed family separation policy.
During an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo that aired Monday, Trump lamented the U.S.’s immigration laws that require authorities to take those caught crossing the border illegally into custody rather than being deported. He called U.S. border custody “Disneyland” since the administration halted its family separation policy and argued there are now “10 times more people coming up with their families.”
“The problem is we have to register them, we have to bring them to court, in other countries they just say ‘sorry, you can’t come in to our country’ and they walk them out. In our country you have to bring them to court,” he said. “It’s all legal, you have lawyers standing at the border, our people, lawyers, wise guys, standing at the border signing people up. Every time they catch a cold they try to blame Border Patrol. It’s a disgrace what’s going on, and it could be solved in 15 minutes if the Democrats would give us the votes.”
During the month of December, two young migrant children died in Border Patrol custody. The first died of dehydration, which medical staff believe started as a cold. The second child was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital. Staff there believed the child initially had a cold and a fever and was given an antibiotic. Hours later he began vomiting and was taken back to the hospital where he later died.
It is unclear if Trump meant to make the connection to the deaths of the migrant children and the White House did not immediately return TPM’s request for clarification.
