Remarks by President Trump at FIRST STEP Act Roundtable with Governor Bryant and Law Enforcement Leaders | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Q Mr. President, will you insist that Senator McConnell bring this bill to the floor before the end of the year?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're talking to him, and we're doing - we're doing a count. And we want to make sure that we have the votes because we don't have to bring it if we don't have the votes. But from everything that we're looking at right now, we have more than enough.

    So, at a certain point, we'll have a talk. But if we have the votes, I'm sure that we'll be voting.

    Q Is there anything, sir, that you can do to negotiate with McConnell? Can you - do you have leverage in any way? Can you threaten him with anything?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't need leverage. Look, he's a friend of mine. He's a really good guy. And I - honestly, I think he believes in this also. And he wants to make sure - like I do, too - I want to make sure we have the votes. But we look - we're looking like we have the votes, as of right now, and maybe an abundance of votes. So I think we'll be okay. I think we're in pretty good shape. What do you think, Lindsey?

    SENATOR GRAHAM: I think you're right.

    Q Have you changed your mind - you heard law enforcement officials today talk about changing their minds in the last five or ten years. What did you think about criminal behavior 10 to 15 years ago? Have you changed your mind?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think a lot of people have changed their minds. You know, it's a more modern system. It's a different system, when you see the tremendous success they've had in Texas; and in Kentucky, where they've had great success; and in Georgia, where the Governor has been speaking about it like it's almost a miracle.

    When you see one after another, and then you Governor Bryant talking about it the same way, I mean, so many things are - now, nothing's perfect and it's a very complex subject, but I would say that a lot of people have changed their minds. I mean, my mind was never made up one way or the other. My mind was just on very strong law and order.

    But this is actually a part of it. And if you look at some of the people that are most supportive of this - I was going around - like, as an example, Chuck Grassley, and Rand Paul, and Mike Lee, and some people that you wouldn't necessarily expect, it's very impressive.

    People that really are into the world of strength, and law and order, and they're totally supportive of this as much as anybody. And then, on the other side, you have great support also. So I think a lot of people have felt very strongly, but I think we're going to have a lot of success with it.

    And most importantly, I think we'll get it. And after we get it, it's going to work. That's very important.

    Thank you for the question.

    Q Mr. President, if the votes are there, do you want the Senate to stay in Washington until they pass this?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, we'll see what happens. I think we're going to have a vote. And I think we should do it now, rather than later.

    This is something that could also pass later, but we have such a good group of people right now, and such great support, I think you're better off - let's take the victory for everybody - for Democrats and for Republicans, very bipartisan. And I think we should take the victory.

    Q Is criminal justice reform, in your view, more important than securing funding for building the wall before the end of the year?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, I think (inaudible) and you can do both. Really, you can do - I think the wall is a very important thing. Funding for the wall is very important. We're building big parts of the wall. You see that. And it's having a tremendous impact. In fact, the only little breach yesterday, we took care of it very nicely, quickly, and apprehended those that breached. The small breach was in one area where the wall wasn't quite built yet; it wasn't completed. But the areas that have been completed have been very, very strong.

    And when people look at what's going on on the border, you know, they just agree pretty much - not pretty much - they agree with what we are doing very strongly.

    Q Will any of the migrants be prosecuted?

    THE PRESIDENT: We're going to look at that. We're going to see.

    Q Because Secretary Nielsen -

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, some are very violent, and have been very violent, and have been very dangerous to the police and to the Border Patrol. And all of the people including - we have ICE there. We have ICE there. Normally, they'd be in other sections, and right now they're on the border.

    But we've had some very violent people. And we don't want - frankly, we don't want those people in our society. We don't want those people in our country. But we had tremendous violence - three Border Patrol people yesterday were very badly hurt through getting hit with rocks and stones.

    And if you look at the Mexican police, who have been fighting very hard - and, you know, don't forget: Ninety-five percent of it is taking place - and more than that - is taking place in Mexico, and on the Mexican side.

    You know, we just said, "Look, if they come over here, we're going to apprehend them and we're going to close the border." That's not really been done to extent that I am doing it because I mean it, and I'll close it for a long time.

    And as far as trade is concerned, that's okay. Because Mexico, frankly, has done very well with trade and the United States. So we would close it and we'll keep it closed if we're going to have a problem. We'll keep it closed for a long period time.

    Q What needs to happen to close the border?

    Q What would convince you to close it?

    THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?

    Q What would cause you to close the border?

    THE PRESIDENT: Violence.

    Q Like we saw the other day?

    THE PRESIDENT: If they do a charge. Because, with a closed border, it's very easy to stop; with an open border, it's not. If they do a charge - as you know, we have a big caravan coming up, another one.

    The interesting thing is, because of the very tough stance - and we've had this stance from the beginning, but now, I suspect because of how well the country is doing, we have a lot more people coming. And it does seem to be an organized - I mean, there is somebody organizing it. This isn't just happening by luck. If something is happening in Honduras, and Guatemala, and El Salvador - because, you know, you look at the way it's organized, it's so - they hand out papers, they hand out directions - this is not just, you know, by luck it's happening.

    But I would say the violence is very strong. We have over 500 people that are serious criminals and gang members. And it's a tough situation. We just don't want that in our country. And we're keeping it in Mexico. And Mexico's done a very good job, but a lot of the law enforcement people from Mexico have been very seriously injured. They've been badly hurt. You saw what happened yesterday.

    If you look at Tijuana, where not only the mayor, but a lot of the people who were interviewed said, "Hey, these are rough people. You start talking to them, and they punch you in the face." We don't want that in our country. We don't want it. Okay?

    Q Mr. President, you mentioned the "rough people." You mentioned the criminals. But how did you feel when you saw the images of the women and children running from the tear gas yesterday?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I do say, "Why are they there?" I mean, I have to start off - first of all, the tear gas is a very minor form of the tear gas itself. It's very safe. The ones that were suffering, to a certain extent, were the people that were putting it out there. But it's very safe.

    But you really say, "Why is a parent running up into an area where they know the tear gas is forming and it's going to be formed, and they're running up with a child?"

    And in some cases, you know, they're not the parents. These are people - they call them "grabbers." They grab a child because they think they're going to have a - they're going to have a certain status by having a child. You know, you have certain advantages, in terms of our crazy laws, that, frankly, Congress should be changing.

    You know, if you changed the laws, you wouldn't be having this problem. And I think the funding of the wall right now has never looked better.

    Q How satisfied are you with the Mexican government's performance here?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the Mexican government is trying very hard. I would've stopped them a lot sooner than the border. We're stopping them at the border.

    But I really think Mexico is working hard. They were violently attacked. I mean, their police were violently attacked at the northern border. If you look at - if you look at their border, their southern border - they were really - that was violence at a high level. That was a terrible thing that took place. And they really geared up after that because they had - a lot of their policemen and a lot of their soldiers were injured badly. So - but I think Mexico is doing a good job.

    Now I'd like to see Mexico take those people and move them back to Honduras, move them back to Guatemala, move them back to El Salvador where most of them come from.

    Q What about people seeking asylum? Should people be able to apply for asylum if they feel like there's violence in their home country?

    THE PRESIDENT: At a certain level they should. But when we have the border closed, there's nothing we can do about that. But at a certain level, maybe they should. That's the laws. We're - we have very strict standards for asylum. As you know, when you go to court looking for asylum, very few people qualify for asylum.

    And, you know, one thing I do mention: They're all coming up and they're all saying about their country is so dangerous, but you have flags all over the place representing Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and some other countries.

    And you say, "Well, if these countries are so bad, so dangerous, why are they all waving, proudly, their flags?"

    Q But there are people with women and children that applying for asylum. Should they be able to apply at the border today?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, if you look, the percentage of women and children is very small, relative to young men coming in. And you have a lot of gang members coming in. And we have over 500 people - and you know that - and they have lists that are criminals. And we don't want the criminals and we don't want people in that don't come in legally.

    So, we're working very hard. People are not coming into our country. They have not been able to breach. They're not going to breach. And if they do breach, they get arrested on the other side. It's a very small event.

    But we do appreciate Mexico working hard and we have a very good relationship. I have a very good relationship with both - you know, both the past and the current - the soon-to-be current leadership of Mexico.

    In fact, Mike is going to the inauguration. And we've worked very closely with the future President of Mexico, and I think the relationship will be good. But we'll see. I mean, we're going to see. But if it's not good, we're just not going to be trading very much; we're not going to be trading with Mexico.

    Q This is your second trip to Mississippi.

    THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?

    Q This is your second trip to Mississippi in the last several months, campaigning for Senator Hyde-Smith.