President Donald Trump said Monday that “our country is being stolen” due to an influx of illegal immigration, blaming Democrats for weak border protection policies.
“Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!” Trump tweeted.
“Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large ‘Caravans’ of people enter their country,” he said in another tweet. “They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws.”
Trump’s comments were followed by a call to action: Congress must “use the nuclear option if necessary” – using a Senate maneuver to lower the threshold to break a filibuster from 60 votes to 51, weaking the power of the minority party – to pass border security legislation.
The President’s comments on Monday come a day after he tweeted “NO MORE DACA DEAL,” indicating that he wouldn’t move forward on negotiations with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program Trump moved to in September but has been kept alive in the courts.
In another tweet Monday morning, Trump declared: “DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon.”
“No longer works,” he continued. “Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!”
The messages come after Trump heard over the weekend from a parade of allies – many on the Fox News payroll – that his base believes he is softening on immigration.
It was one takeaway from a long holiday break, during which Trump surrounded himself with the type of unwavering allies he’s struggled to find in Washington, people familiar with their conversations said. Facing a variety of sticky decisions, and without many senior-level aides, Trump sought the counsel of those he believes speak for the voters who elected him President.
The messages are a reflection of Trump’s ongoing frustration that more progress hasn’t yet been made on the wall, his chief campaign promise. He has continued to rail at being cornered into signing an omnibus spending bill that included only a small amount of funding for the border wall. And he’s noticed with chagrin the vocal criticism of Ann Coulter, the right-wing firebrand who has publicly censured Trump for falling short on his immigration promises.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.