WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trumpx (all times local):
11:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump says Mexico has “got to help us at the border.”
Trump says a lot of people are coming into the U.S. from Mexico because they want to take advantage of a U.S. program that protects “Dreamer” immigrants from deportation.
Trump ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year, though a federal judge has ordered the administration to continue renewing permits.
Months of negotiations between the White House and lawmakers in both parties have failed to produce a deal to protect the “Dreamers.”
Trump tweeted about the issue before he attended Easter services at a church near his Palm Beach, Florida, home.
Asked about the tweets, Trump blamed Democrats, saying they blew a “great, great chance” to make a deal.
___
11:10 a.m.
President Donald Trump is attending Easter services at an Episcopal church near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
The president was accompanied by his wife, Melania, and daughter Tiffany.
He was expected to return to his Mar-a-Lago estate afterward to join other families for annual Easter festivities, including brunch and an Easter egg hunt.
Trump has attended the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea for years. It’s also where he and the first lady got married in 2005.
The president opened the religious holiday by tweeting “HAPPY EASTER!” to his many followers. He complained in a follow-up tweet about “ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws” that he says make it harder for Border Patrol agents to do their jobs. He also said a deal to help immigrants known as “Dreamers” was “NO MORE.”
___
10:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he’ll stop Mexico’s “cash cow” unless it does more to stop its people from crossing into the U.S.
Trump tweets on Easter that Mexico is doing next to “NOTHING” to stop illegal immigration and laughs “at our dumb immigration laws.” The president adds that Mexico must “stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!”
The U.S., Canada and Mexico are currently renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement at Trump’s insistence. Trump says NAFTA hurts the U.S.
Trump promised during the presidential campaign to build a southern border wall to stop illegal immigration and drugs coming in from Mexico, but Congress has frustrated the president by not moving as quickly on the wall as he would like.
___
10:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is claiming that Border Patrol agents can’t do their jobs properly because of “ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws” that allow people caught for being in the country illegally to be released while they await a hearing before a federal immigration judge.
Trump tweets on Easter that the situation is “Getting more dangerous” and “Caravans” are coming. He offers no information to back up his claims.
Trump also says Republicans in charge of the Senate “must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW.”
Senate rules require 60 votes for legislation in the 100-member Senate. Republicans only control 51 seats, and GOP Senate leaders basically have rejected Trump’s calls to change the longstanding rules.
Trump also says “NO MORE DACA DEAL!” to help immigrants known as “Dreamers.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.