Trump says ‘many’ border crossers use children for ‘their own sinister purposes’

President Trump accused migrant parents who cross the U.S.-Mexico border with their sons and daughters of using these children to further “their own sinister purposes.”

On Sunday morning, Trump turned to Twitter to defend his administration’s much-maligned policy of separating children from their parents at the border. He said there should be consequences whenever someone enters the United States without going through the proper channels — regardless of whether he or she has a child.

Trump then claimed the United States has the “dumbest” and “worst” immigration laws in the world. He encouraged the American people to vote for Republican candidates in the upcoming midterms so that Congress can amend these laws.

He also threatened to shut down the government unless Congress passes border-security legislation that includes building a wall separating the U.S.-Mexico border.

An hour earlier, Trump shared a quote from Thomas Homan, the former director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which was responsible for carrying out the administration’s policies. On Fox News’ “Watters’ World,” Homan said, “There’s been nobody that has done more for border security and public safety than President Trump. And I’ve worked for six presidents — I respect them all — but nobody has done more than this administration and President Trump. That’s just a stone-cold fact.”

Trump’s rhetoric and policy proposals surrounding immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border have been controversial ever since he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015.

Last year, he warned he would end former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gave temporary legal status to the children of undocumented immigrants.

But the administration’s policy of referring all instances of illegal entry for criminal prosecution, which was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April, has resulted in thousands of families being separated at the border.

The separations resulted in waves of compassion for the immigrants and condemnation for Trump — even from his steadfast supporters. The Trump administration repeatedly attempted to shift the blame to the Democrats for its own policy and falsely claimed it had no choice but to separate the families.

On June 20, Trump signed an executive order halting his administration’s policy, but there are still many questions about how the remaining hundreds of children will be reunited with their parents.

Read more from Yahoo News:

• Former Trump official: No one ‘minding the store’ at White House on cyberthreats

• Tech leaders lament the mess they’ve created

• How the Land and Water Conservation Fund became a political football

• The street children of Melilla, risking all to get to Spain

• Heat wave strikes the Arctic, and the climate enters the Twilight Zone

• Photos: Violence, poverty and politics: Why Hondurans are escaping to the U.S.