Trump Boasts About Border Wall Construction and His Brazil Travel Ban During Oval Office Press Availability
Friday, May 29, 2020
Click on the Play Button to see video of immigration excerpts from press availability
President Trump yesterday boasted about the progress and effectiveness of the border wall he is building between the U.S. and Mexico, praised the government of Mexico for deploying troops along its border to control illegal immigration, praised the effectiveness of his efforts to close the border between U.S. and Mexico, and extolled the virtues of his travel ban with Brazil. The President's remarks came during a May 28, 2020, press availability following an Oval Office briefing he and the First Lady received on 2020 hurricane preparations.
In his remarks, the President boasted that "almost 200 miles" of "brand new" wall between the U.S. and Mexico has been built, that "close to 400 miles" will be built by the end of the year, and that there will be "close to 500 miles" built by early next year. He declared that no illegal crossings were occurring where the wall has been built, saying "wherever we have the wall, the issue of illegal border crossings "virtually ceases as a problem."
Trump asserted that "record low numbers" of people are entering the United States along the country's southwest border and that in the cases where people do come in, "we take them immediately out" under emergency powers his administration is using.
The President also praised the Mexican government for deploying 26,000 of its troops on its border and boasted about the "very strong" ban that his Administration has imposed on travel from Brazil, noting that United States citizens are allowed to come back in "under a very strict process."
Trump asserted that "record low numbers" of people are entering the United States along the country's southwest border and that in the cases where people do come in, "we take them immediately out" under emergency powers his administration is using.
The President also praised the Mexican government for deploying 26,000 of its troops on its border and boasted about the "very strong" ban that his Administration has imposed on travel from Brazil, noting that United States citizens are allowed to come back in "under a very strict process."
Among those present during the briefing and press availability was Chad F. Wolf, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security who, along with overseeing the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), also oversees the nation's immigration services, border security, and interior immigration enforcement functions. The Secretary followed up on the President's remarks, saying that the Administration's actions along the United States southwest border "was one of the highlights and success stories throughout this pandemic."
Secretary Wolf said that we have used public health authorities to make sure we don't have outbreaks along that southwest border." He said that about 80 percent of "folks" from Mexico and the Northern Triangle "within about 120 minutes." He added that :"They are not in border patrol facilities. They are not getting other individuals potentially sick. We've been very, very successful."
The President also said that both Mexico and Brazil has very high numbers of persons suffering from COVID-19 and used the press availability as an opportunity to once again criticize the government of China over its actions relating to the disease, saying "China should have stopped it at the source."
The President also said that both Mexico and Brazil has very high numbers of persons suffering from COVID-19 and used the press availability as an opportunity to once again criticize the government of China over its actions relating to the disease, saying "China should have stopped it at the source."
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