President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable at the Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center in Reston, Va., Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
RESTON, Va. — President Donald Trump threatened Friday to cut off aid and slap sanctions on countries that refuse to accept nationals the U.S. tries to deport.
Trump said during a briefing with Department of Homeland Security officials at the Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center in Virginia that he knows how to change the trend.
“If they don’t take ’em back, we’ll put sanctions on the countries, we’ll put tariffs on the countries,” Trump said. He added: “They’ll take ’em back so fast your head would spin.”
He’s also threatened to cut off aid to the countries, which include China and Sierra Leone.
Separately, Trump also threatened to cut off aid to counties that produce illegal drugs, saying they’re “not our friends.”
He said the U.S. sends countries “massive aid” and “billions and billions of dollars” while “they’re pouring drugs into our country and they’re laughing at us.”
Trump promised “we’ve going to take a very harsh action.”
Trump said his immigration plan is needed to protect the borders. At a roundtable with top homeland security officials, the Republican president said their jobs would be “100 percent easier” with the right laws.
The White House has proposed creating a path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million young people living in the county illegally. In exchange, they want billions of dollars for a border wall and dramatic cuts to legal immigration.
Democrats have blasted the plan and called it dead on arrival.
Trump says Democrats “can’t even approve citizenship.”