Trump: Send Back Those Who 'Invade'    06/25 06:15

   President Donald Trump on Sunday compared people entering the U.S. from 
Mexico to invaders and said they should be immediately sent back without 
appearing before a judge.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday compared people entering 
the U.S. from Mexico to invaders and said they should be immediately sent back 
without appearing before a judge.

   The American Civil Liberties Union said in response that such a step would 
be illegal and violate the Constitution that Trump swore to uphold,

   "We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country," the president 
said on Twitter as he was being driven to his private golf club in Northern 
Virginia. "When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court 
Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good 
immigration policy and Law and Order."

   "Most children come without parents ... Our Immigration policy, laughed at 
all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through 
the system legally and are waiting on line for years!" he continued. 
"Immigration must be based on merit - we need people who will help to Make 
America Great Again!"

   "What President Trump has suggested here is both illegal and 
unconstitutional," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights 
Project. "Any official who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and 
laws should disavow it unequivocally."

   Trump has been criticizing immigration judges for weeks, both exaggerating 
the number currently hearing cases and saying that hiring more --- as some 
members of Congress have proposed --- would be unnecessary.

   Trump made his anti-illegal immigration stance a centerpiece of his 
presidential campaign and he has pushed for strict policies since taking 
office. He said during a campaign appearance Saturday in Las Vegas that being 
for "strong borders, no crime" is a winning issue for Republicans to run on in 
November's congressional elections.

   But he bowed to public pressure last week and reversed a policy of 
separating adults and children who enter the U.S. illegally together at the 
border with Mexico, though his "zero-tolerance" policy of criminally 
prosecuting all illegal border-crossers remains.

   The House is expected to vote on immigration legislation this week, though 
its fate is uncertain.

   Trump told House Republicans last week that he was "100 percent" behind the 
effort but tweeted days later that they were "wasting their time" voting before 
the midterm elections.

   About a dozen protesters gathered at the entrance to Trump's club Sunday 
afternoon as he prepared to leave, including a woman holding a sign that said 
"Trump Should Be Caged" and a man wrapped in a Mylar blanket. Some of the 
separated children were seen using the blankets on government-distributed video 
of their holding conditions.

   Further up the road, a lone man stood with a sign with Trump's headshot and 
the words "Thank You."


(KA)