WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended the “zero tolerance” policy leading to thousands of migrant families being split on the US border as the only effective way to fight illegal immigration.
“I don’t want children taken away from parents,” he told a gathering of small business owners, before adding: “When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.”
“We don’t have to prosecute them, but then we are not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That’s not good.”
US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the administration announced its push to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, regardless of whether they were seeking asylum.
Since children cannot be sent to the facilities where their parents are held, they are separated from them.
A chorus of critics — rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and some within the president’s own Republican party — are demanding an immediate end to the family separations.
But a defiant Trump has vowed America will not become a “migrant camp.”
“We don’t want people pouring into our country,” he told Tuesday’s gathering. “We want ultimately a merit-based system where people come in based on merit.”
Hammering home the need to combat smugglers who he said “game the system,” Trump accused the media of helping human traffickers.
“Those who apply for asylum legally at ports of entry are not prosecuted. The fake news media back there doesn’t talk about that,” he charged.
“They are fake,” he said. “They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe.”
Trump was headed later Tuesday to Congress to huddle with Republican lawmakers, many of whom are deeply uncomfortable with the separation policy.
The president has accused Democrats of provoking the crisis by blocking legislation to combat illegal immigration.
“We want to end the border crisis by finally giving us the legal authorities and the resources to detain and remove illegal immigrant families all together and bring them back to their country,” he said.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is expected to consider two immigration bills.
One is a hard-line measure favored by conservatives, and the other a compromise bill — which the White House has signalled has Trump’s support — that would end family separations, protect so-called Dreamer immigrants brought to the country as children, pay for boosted border security and curtail legal immigration.
Tuesday’s Republican huddle will be closely watched, in part to see whether any lawmakers directly confront the president.
Several House Republicans face tough re-election fights in November, and some may worry that public outrage over the family separations could hurt their chances.
Democrats say the crisis is of Trump’s own making, and accuse him of using children as pawns.
![]()
To prosecute migrants, ‘you have to take the children away’: Trump
To prosecute migrants, ‘you have to take the children away’: Trump
- Donald Trump: “When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.”
- A chorus of critics — rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and some within the president’s own Republican party — are demanding an immediate end to the family separations.
South Korea: Civilians sent drones to North Korea four times, harming ties
SEOUL: South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on Wednesday that three civilians had sent drones to North Korea on four occasions since President Lee Jae Myung took office last year, harming inter-Korean ties.
The trio flew the aircraft between September 2025 and January, Chung said, citing an ongoing investigation by police and the military. Drones crashed on two occasions in North Korea, in line with claims made by Pyongyang, he said.
On two other attempts the drones returned to Paju, a border settlement in South Korea, after flying over Kaesong, a city in North Korea, Chung said.
South Korean authorities were investigating the three civilians on suspicion of violating the aviation safety act and breaching criminal law by benefiting the enemy, he said.
Some officials at South Korea’s military intelligence agency and the National Intelligence Service were also under investigation for alleged involvement with the trio, he said.
“We express official regret to the North,” Chung said, adding that the government was taking the drone incursion incidents very seriously.
North Korea has reacted angrily, saying last month that drones from South Korea entered its airspace, after another intrusion in September.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, urged Seoul to investigate the incident, warning provocations could result in “terrible situations.”
Chung also expressed regret over South Korea sending 18 drones to North Korea under the direction of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“It was an extremely dangerous incident aimed to induce an attack against South Korea by sending 18 drones on 11 occasions, to sensitive areas in North Korea including the airspace over the Workers’ Party office,” he said.
South Korean prosecutors have
indicted Yoon
, who was ousted in April 2025, on charges that include aiding an enemy state.
They accused him and his military commanders of ordering a covert drone operation into the North to raise tensions and justify his martial law decree.
Yoon denies wrongdoing.
South Korea’s government plans to strengthen penalties for sending drones to the North, Chung said, including up to a one-year jail term or a 10 million won ($6,928) fine.
A clause will also be added to South Korea’s inter-Korean relations development act to block actions that heighten tensions on the peninsula, he said.
The trio flew the aircraft between September 2025 and January, Chung said, citing an ongoing investigation by police and the military. Drones crashed on two occasions in North Korea, in line with claims made by Pyongyang, he said.
On two other attempts the drones returned to Paju, a border settlement in South Korea, after flying over Kaesong, a city in North Korea, Chung said.
South Korean authorities were investigating the three civilians on suspicion of violating the aviation safety act and breaching criminal law by benefiting the enemy, he said.
Some officials at South Korea’s military intelligence agency and the National Intelligence Service were also under investigation for alleged involvement with the trio, he said.
“We express official regret to the North,” Chung said, adding that the government was taking the drone incursion incidents very seriously.
North Korea has reacted angrily, saying last month that drones from South Korea entered its airspace, after another intrusion in September.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, urged Seoul to investigate the incident, warning provocations could result in “terrible situations.”
Chung also expressed regret over South Korea sending 18 drones to North Korea under the direction of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“It was an extremely dangerous incident aimed to induce an attack against South Korea by sending 18 drones on 11 occasions, to sensitive areas in North Korea including the airspace over the Workers’ Party office,” he said.
South Korean prosecutors have
indicted Yoon
, who was ousted in April 2025, on charges that include aiding an enemy state.
They accused him and his military commanders of ordering a covert drone operation into the North to raise tensions and justify his martial law decree.
Yoon denies wrongdoing.
South Korea’s government plans to strengthen penalties for sending drones to the North, Chung said, including up to a one-year jail term or a 10 million won ($6,928) fine.
A clause will also be added to South Korea’s inter-Korean relations development act to block actions that heighten tensions on the peninsula, he said.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.