U.S. President Donald Trump called on Congress to take action on immigration.
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U.S. President Donald Trump placed the onus on Democrats to come to the table after he'd threatened to close the southern border over the increasing number of asylum seekers crossing into the US.
"Congress has to meet quickly and make a deal. I could do it in 45 minutes," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
"We need to get rid of chain migration," U.S. President Donald Trump said during an Oval Office press availability with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"We need to get rid of catch and release and visa lottery. And we have to do something about asylum. And to be honest with you, we have to get rid of judges," U.S. President Donald Trump continued, later explaining that he no longer wants to catch people trying to illegally cross the Southern border and "bring them to a court."
"It is the worst, dumbest immigration system in the world," U.S. President Donald Trump said of the US immigration system.
"The Democrats can change it in one meeting. Everyone would agree. But they don't want to change it because they don't want to give Republicans a victory," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
The President said he'd spoken to Democrats about a potential immigration deal, and "all the sudden they're changing" their minds.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to close the southern border if Mexico did not begin apprehending more migrants attempting to come to the US. Trump acknowledged that Mexico had increased its apprehensions on Tuesday.
"They've made a big step over the last two days. They are apprehending people," U.S. President Donald Trump said. "The fact that they're doing that means fewer people are going to come."
U.S. President Donald Trump also said he has "made (the) intention known" that if Mexico does not continue to apprehend more migrants attempting to cross into the US and if Congress does not reach a consensus on immigration, he's "ready to close" the southern border of the US.
U.S. President Donald Trump added that he's "totally prepared" to close the southern border, "or we're going to close large sections of it" despite economic consequences.
U.S. President Donald Trump also alluded to this in a tweet Tuesday morning, saying: "Mexico is apprehending large numbers of people at their Southern Border."
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to wait until after the 2020 election to draft a new healthcare plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
The move reverses U.S. President Donald Trump's call last week to quickly scrap ex-President Obama's signature law, taking some Republicans in Congress by surprise. ■