Speaking at the White House Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump blasted courts standing in the way of his administration’s immigration agenda of deporting “some very bad people,” who he said include “killers, murderers, drug dealers.”
The president touted his administration’s progress in shutting down the border and cracking down on illegal immigration, saying, “Honestly, it’s one of the great successes; we have virtually nobody coming in illegally.”
He noted, however, that certain rulings against his deportations pose a threat to his efforts to secure the country.
“I hope we get cooperation from the courts, because, you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can’t have a trial for all of these people,” he said. “It wasn’t meant–the system wasn’t meant–and we don’t think there’s anything that says that.”
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Since Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January, his administration has faced hundreds of lawsuits targeting his executive orders and actions, some of which have resulted in nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court is set to hear a case on May 15 about three federal judges who issued separate nationwide injunctions blocking an executive order by Trump ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.
On Mar. 15, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport criminal illegal alien gang members to El Salvador.
Trump said that court rulings slowing down his deportation agenda could lead to a “very dangerous country.”
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“We were having hundreds of thousands of people a month come in under Biden, and they came in from prisons. They came in from mental institutions. They came in from gangs in Venezuela and other countries all over the world, not just South America. They were emptying their prisons into the United States, Venezuela emptied its prisons out, but many countries emptied their prisons into the Congo as an example, in Africa, emptied their prisons into the United States,” he said.
“I won an election based on the fact that we get them out,” he went on. “We’re getting them out and a judge can say, ‘No, you have to have a trial’ … the trials going to take two years, and now we’re going to have a very dangerous country if we’re not allowed to do what we’re entitled to do.”
Trump also addressed his administration’s ongoing trade war with China, saying it is up to China to make a deal work.
“Ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States,” he said. “And we want them involved but they have to, and other countries have to make a deal. And if they don’t make a deal, we’ll set the deal because we’re the ones that set the deal.”
The president said he expects that in whichever deal is ultimately reached, the current 145 percent tariff against China will be much lower, but noted it “won’t be zero” either.
“It used to be zero. We were just destroyed. China was taking us for a ride and it’s just not going to happen,” he said. “We’re going to be very good to China, I have a great relationship with President XI. But they would make billions and billions and billions of dollars a year, and they would build their military out of the United States on what they made so that won’t happen.”
“But they’re going to do very well,” he continued. “And I think they’re going to be happy and I think we’re going to live together very happily and ideally work together. So, I think it’s going to work out very well.”
During the Q and A Trump also put to bed rumors that he would be firing Jerome Powell from his role as chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve over a disagreement about lowering interest rates.
In response to a question on whether he had any intention to fire Powell, Trump replied, “None whatsoever. Never did.”
“The press runs away with things. No, I have no intention of firing him,” said Trump.
“I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” he noted, adding, “This is a perfect time to lower interest rates. If he doesn’t, is it the end? No, it’s not, but it would be good timing. It would be it which could have taken place earlier. But, no, I have no intention to fire him.”