No More Catch and Release; Caravaners Will Get ‘Tent Cities,’ Trump Says

U.S. officials will detain caravan migrants seeking asylum in “tent cities,” and if they “don’t get asylum, they get out,” President Donald Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham during an exclusive interview that aired Monday night on “The Ingraham Angle.”

“If they applied for asylum, we’re going to hold them until such time as their trial takes place,” Trump told Ingraham. “We’re going to build tent cities. We’re going to put tents up all over the place. We’re not going to build structures and spend all of this — you know, hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“We’re going to have tents. They’re going to be very nice, and they’re going to wait, and if they don’t get asylum, they get out,” Trump added.

Thousands of Central American migrants are trekking north through Mexico to the U.S. And now 5,200 American troops are headed to the border to back up the National Guard and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers already there.

“We’re going to have tents. They’re going to be very nice, and they’re going to wait, and if they don’t get asylum, they get out.”

Trump has called the caravan a “national emergency” and has warned of the dangers of uncontrolled mass immigration, noting that potential terrorists, violent criminals and drug cartel members could easily enter the U.S. after claiming asylum.

“It’s the problem with our country — when you look at that caravan … A lot of bad people [are] in there,” Trump warned. “People that are in gangs — we don’t want them in this country.”

“I called up the military. This caravan is not — they’re wasting their time. They are not coming into the country,” Trump said. “We’re catching, we’re not releasing. So they want to come over.  But we’re not even doing that. We’re not letting them into this country.”

Trump said the bottom line in dealing with the approaching caravan is, “We have to have strong borders. If we don’t have strong borders, we don’t have a country.”

During the wide-ranging interview, Trump also touted his optimism for Republicans’ midterm election chances next week and urged his base to go out and vote on November 6.

The president emphasized the close gubernatorial race in Florida between Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D).

“And his city, Tallahassee, is known as the most corrupt in Florida and one of the most corrupt in the nation — he’s a disaster, and how he’s even close to being tied is hard to believe,” Trump said of the race. “If Florida has a governor like that … Florida will become Venezuela. It will be a disaster.”

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Trump also touted underdog Michigan GOP Senate candidate John James, who has been markedly narrowing the polling gap between himself and incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow (R-Mich.) to the single digits.

“He’s doing so well that I’m trying to get to Michigan. That’s how well John James — John James is a star. African-American. Great guy,” Trump said, adding that Stabenow has “been a disaster for Michigan” and is “an automatic vote for” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“John James is a young star and I said, ‘I’m going to back him,’ and I backed him,” Trump added. “I backed him, and he’s taken off.”

Trump also warned that Democrats “should be” worried about the Latino vote in the midterms because “the Hispanic-Americans have the best unemployment numbers and employment numbers in the history of our country.”

Democrats should also be worried about the African-American vote and other minority groups’ turnout, Trump insisted.

“The African-Americans have the best employment and unemployment numbers in the history of our country. Asians, best employment numbers in the history of our country,” Trump said. “And, I sometimes jokingly say, it’s going to be awfully tough to beat me in a debate when I have the best numbers ever produced.”

“So I think they should be worried. They should be worried about the African-Americans, because they’re going to lose them,” Trump boasted. “Women have the best numbers they’ve had in 65 years. [Democrats] should be worried.”

On the status of his efforts to negotiate a new trade deal with China, Trump expressed optimism, saying, “I think that we will make a great deal with China, and it has to be great, because they’ve drained our country. We have really helped rebuild China … They’ve been taking out an average of $500 billion, billion, a year, for many years. Not going to happen anymore.”

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