INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Donald Trump has ramped up his focus on immigration and gang violence in recent days
(File)Bethpage, New York: President Donald Trump and his top administration officials repeatedly warned
Wednesday that unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the southern border are potentially exposing the nation to eventual gang
crime.Immigrant advocates have long said that the children, primarily from Central America, are fleeing violence in their home countries and
seeking safe harbor in the United States
But the Trump administration has used their plight to justify cracking down on policies that allow these migrants to be released and obtain
hearings before immigration judges, rather than being deported immediately."We have the worst immigration laws of any country, anywhere in
the world," Trump said at the roundtable held at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center
"They exploited the loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minors."Trump added: "They look so innocent
They're not innocent."The event, open only to local media and a small group of traveling pool reporters, continued a familiar theme for
Trump in highlighting violent acts committed by immigrants and calling for tougher enforcement measures to clamp down on crime.Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein detailed a gang "resurgence" that he said he witnessed firsthand as the U.S
That rise, Rosenstein said, was "fueled" by illegal immigration and "particularly the challenge of unaccompanied minor children."The issue
is compounded, Rosenstein said, by the fact that these migrant children must eventually be released from detention, and many never show up
for their immigration proceedings before a judge."We're letting people in who are creating problems
We're letting people in who are gang members
We're also letting people in who are vulnerable," Rosenstein said
Because many of the migrant children lack families or a similar support system, they become "vulnerable to [gang] recruitment," the deputy
attorney general said,Thomas Homan, the departing deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said about 300 arrests related to
the MS-13 gang were made on Long Island last year
Of those arrested, more than 40 percent entered the United States as unaccompanied minors, he said."So there is a problem," Homan said
"There is a connection."This terrain - both the location and the subject matter - is familiar territory
Trump traveled to nearby Selden last July with a similar message of MS-13 wreaking havoc in communities across America
Here on Long Island, the transnational gang has been blamed for more than two dozen deaths in the last two years, according to radio station
WNYC.The gang, formally known as La Mara Salvatrucha, has roots in Los Angeles and ties to Central American countries such as El Salvador
John Cronan, an assistant attorney general, said Wednesday that about 2,000 MS-13 members are on Long Island.Trump has ramped up his focus
on immigration and gang violence in recent days, most notably in another roundtable at the White House last week when he described
undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes as "animals." He also blasted Libby Schaaf, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, California,
who tipped off residents to a federal immigration enforcement raid in February
Trump said her move was tantamount to "obstruction of justice" that allowed undocumented immigrants to escape before the raid.Trump again
called the gang members "animals" during Wednesday's roundtable."I called them animals the other day, and I was met with rebuke," he said
"They said, 'They're people.' They're not people
These are animals, and we have to be very, very tough."Throughout his campaign and his presidency, Trump has consistently used the threat of
violence committed by immigrants to push Congress for tougher security measures, such as a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and punishments
for local law enforcement officials who decline cooperation with federal immigration authorities.But his critics say Trump is unfairly
conflating crime from a smaller subset of immigrants with the broader undocumented population.Several dozen protesters gathered a few blocks
from where Trump hosted the roundtable in Bethpage, holding signs that read "No Hate, No Racism, No Trump" and "Long Island is
#UnitedAgainstHate." One woman carried a sign that read: "Keep your tiny hands off my rights.""We think it's shameful that they're using the
rhetoric of calling us animals, whether it's animals, rapists or calling the countries that we come from a shithole country," said Walter
Barrientos, the Long Island organizing director for Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group
"It just becomes an excuse to vilify and dehumanize people in our countries."After the immigration roundtable, Trump was scheduled to attend
a fundraiser in Manhattan before returning to Washington on Wednesday evening.(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff
and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
