4/12/2019

DEMS/DHS/IMMIGRATION/SANCTUARY CITIES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Friday [4-12-19] he is strongly considering releasing ‘Illegal Immigrants’ into Democratic strongholds to punish congressional foes for inaction on the border— just hours after White House and Homeland Security officials insisted the idea had been rejected as fast as it had been proposed…The reversal, which appeared to catch officials at the Department of Homeland Security off guard, came as critics were blasting Trump for the supposedly-rejected idea, accusing him of turning migrants into pawns to go after his political opponents. It comes as Trump has grown increasingly exasperated by a surge of Central American migrant families crossing the southern border and is looking for new ways to pressure congressional Democrats to change laws that he insists are making the problem worse. Indeed, last week Trump urged his soon-to-be acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to seal the southern border and told McAleenan he would pardon him if he were to find himself in trouble for blocking legal asylum-seekers, according to two people familiar with the conversation who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private exchange.”

Associated Press, “Trump ‘Strongly Looking’ at Releasing Migrants in Dem Cities,” The New York Times online, April 12, 2019