The current influx, if not halted, threatens to overwhelm our immigration system and our communities, and poses unacceptable dangers to the entire nation. We have to have our borders. Can't let drugs come in. Not just - it's not just people. It's people; it's drugs. It's human traffickers.
Human trafficking is now at the highest level in the world that it's ever been. And that's because of the Internet. Think of it - human trafficking. You think back 200 years, 500 years. Human trafficking - where they steal children; in many cases, women, unfortunately. They steal women. The human traffickers, the lowest scum on Earth. The lowest scum on Earth. And it's at a level that it's never been. Worldwide - never been at a level like this.
If these caravans are allowed into our country, only bigger and more emboldened caravans will follow. And you see that's what's happening now. We have one that's coming up, and it's being somewhat dissipated, as they march. But then other people are joining it. And then it gets bigger. And now, if you look back at Honduras, and if you look at El Salvador, other ones are solving and they're forming. They're forming. You have new ones that are forming. And we call it "caravan number two" is unbelievably rough people. Very, very hard for the military to stop it. Our military will have no problem. But very, very hard. Mexico is having a very, very hard time with it.
Once they arrive, the Democrat Party's vision is to offer them free healthcare, free welfare, free education, and even the right to vote. You and the hardworking taxpayers of our country will be asked to pick up the entire tab. And that's what's happening - medical and, in many cases, they've got some big medical problems before they get here.
No nation can allow itself to be overwhelmed by uncontrolled masses of people rushing their border. That's what's happening. They are rushing our border. They are coming up. And even before you get to the caravan, just on a daily basis, people coming in. And it's a very bad thing for our country. It's sad in many ways, but it's a very bad thing for our country. And again, costs us billions and billions and billions of dollars a year.
And I will therefore take every lawful action at my disposal to address this crisis. And that's what we're doing. The United States military, great people.
My administration is finalizing a plan to end the rampant abuse of our asylum system - it's abused - to halt the dangerous influx, and to establish control over America's sovereign borders. We got borders. And once that control is set and standardized, and made very strong - including the building of the wall, which we've already started. $1.6 billion spent last year; $1.6 billion this year. We have another $1.6 [billion] that will be coming, but we want to build it at one time. All it does is turn people in a different direction if you don't. We want to build it at one time.
Under this plan, the illegal aliens will no longer get a free pass into our country by lodging meritless claims in seeking asylum. Instead, migrants seeking asylum will have to present themselves lawfully at a port of entry. So they're going to have to lawfully present themselves at a port of entry. Those who choose to break our laws and enter illegally will no longer be able to use meritless claims to gain automatic admission into our country. We will hold them - for a long time, if necessary.
The only long-term solution to the crisis, and the only way to ensure the endurance of our nation as a sovereign country, is for Congress to overcome open borders obstruction. That's exactly what it is: It's open border obstruction. No votes. You can come up with the greatest border plan, the greatest immigration plan. You won't get one vote from a Democrat. They have terrible policy. In many cases, they're terrible politicians. But the one thing I give them great credit for: They vote as a bloc. They stick together.
And we will end catch-and-release. We're not releasing any longer. We also must finish the job that we started by being strong at the border. When we're strong at the border, people will turn away and they won't bother. You will see, in a year from now, or in certainly a period of time from now, despite our very good economy, which some of them come for that - I can't blame them for that; you have to do it legally - but you will see that the numbers of people trying to get in will be greatly reduced.
But that can only happen if we're strong at the border. And the southern border is a big problem, and it's a tremendous problem for drugs pouring in and destroying our youth, and, really, destroying the fabric of our country. There's never been a drug problem like we have today. And as I said, much of it comes from the southern border.
So in the meantime, I will fulfill my sacred obligation to protect our country and defend the United States of America. And this is a defense of our country. We have no choice. We have no choice. We will defend our borders, we will defend our country.
Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, what happens to the children then? If you're ending catch-and-release, what happens to those children? Do they stay in these tent cities? Or what happens?
THE PRESIDENT: We're working on a system where they stay together. But I will say that, by doing that, tremendous numbers - you know, under the Obama plan, you could separate children. They never did anything about that. Nobody talks about that. But under President Obama, they separated children from the parents. We actually put it so that that didn't happen.
But what happens when you do that is you get tremendous numbers of people coming. It's almost like an incentive to - when they hear they're not going to be separated, they come many, many times over. But President Obama separated the children, the parents. And nobody complained. When we continued the exact same law, this country went crazy.
So we are going to continue and try to continue what we're doing. But it is a tremendous incentive for people to try. But it's going to be very, very hard for people to come into our country. So we think we'll be able to do that.
Q With the military, do you envision them firing upon any of these people?
THE PRESIDENT: I hope not.
Q Could you see the military (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: I hope not. It's the military - I hope - I hope there won't be that. But I will tell you this: Anybody throwing stones, rocks - like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico - we will consider that a firearm. Because there's not much difference, where you get hit in the face with a rock - which, as you know, it was very violent a few days ago - very, very violent - that break-in. It was a break-in of a country. They broke into Mexico.
And you look at what's happening in Guatemala, just to mention Guatemala, along with El Salvador and Honduras. It's disgraceful that those countries aren't able to stop this. Because they should be able to stop it before it starts.
And the United States pays them a fortune, and we're looking at not doing that anymore. Because why should we be doing that when they do nothing for us?
Jeff. Jeff, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, how is this plan going to be legal, considering the current law?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, this is totally legal. No. This is legal. We are stopping people at the border. This is an invasion, and nobody is even questioning that.
Q But in terms of your plans to change asylum, are you going to do this via executive order?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, you don't have to - you don't have to release. You have - you can hold. The problem is, to hold people, you need massive facilities. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Another country says, "Sorry, you can't come in." With us, we take their name, take their phone number, take their everything, and say, "Good luck." Only because we don't have the facilities to hold people. But we're building the facilities now. We're building massive numbers of tents, and we will hold them in tents. But you don't have to release them. They released them only because they didn't have the facilities to hold them.
Q Mr. President, is there like an executive order that you're going to be releasing today?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, we will be doing an executive order sometime next week, yes.
Q (Inaudible) executive order dealing with ending catch-and-release and asylum?
THE PRESIDENT: It's going to end - it's going to be talking about everything. It'll be quite comprehensive. Many of the things we've talked about today.
Q Mr. President, so you're - so just to clarify, you are speaking of, in the tents, these family units that would arrive (inaudible) the children?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we have other facilities also. But what's happened is we are holding so many facilities - so many people that our facilities are being overrun. They're being overrun. And we are putting up temporary facilities. Eventually, people won't be coming here anymore when they realize they can't get through.
Q So they will hold the children in those tents with their parents?
THE PRESIDENT: We will be holding the family and the children together. Remember this: President Obama separated children from families. And all I did was take the same law, and then I softened the law. But by softening the law, many people come up that would not have come up if there was separation.
Q Mr. President, what do you say to the critics who think this is a political thing before the midterms?
THE PRESIDENT: There's nothing political about a caravan of thousands of people, and now others forming, pouring up into our country. We have no idea who they are. All we know is they're pretty tough people when they can blast through the Mexican military and Mexican police. They're pretty tough people. Even Mexico said, "Wow, these are tough people." I don't want them in our country. And women don't want them in our country. Women want security. Men don't want them in our country. But the women do not want them. Women want security. You look at what the women are looking for. They want to have security. They don't want to have these people in our country. And they're not going to be in our country. It's a very big thing.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, when you talk about finalizing a plan to end asylum, is this a plan that would be included in that executive order?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, no, people are going to have a chance to go for asylum. But if you look at the records, not very many people are allowed to stay once they go to court. But what happens is they'd go into - they were using asylum - first of all, they were told what to say by lawyers and others. "Read this statement." You read the statement, and now you're seeking asylum. The whole thing is ridiculous. And we won't put up with it any longer.
Q President Trump, U.S. law and international law says that people who have valid claims have a right to seek asylum.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
Q So why would - why would they be -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they're going to go to court. They're going to go to court, as crazy as it sounds. They're going to go -
Q But the law say that they don't - they're not -
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. Excuse me. Ready? They're going to go to court, and a judge is going to determine. But usually, when they go to court, they're deported. It just seems that most of the people are deported once they go. The problem is they never end up going to court, because when they come in, they're told to come back in a year, for a court case, and they disappear into the United States never to be seen again.
But we're going to be -
Q But the current laws doesn't say about holding people in tent cities.
THE PRESIDENT: And they're given deportation notices. We will be deporting those people.
Q Mr. President, you're saying rocks are - rock-throwing, like happened in Mexico, will be considered -
