President Donald Trump urged Congress on Sunday to pass “tough laws NOW” to build the wall and strengthen border security ahead of the arrival of a “caravan” of hundreds of Central American illegal immigrants walking across Mexico to reach the U.S.

The caravan, organized by Pueblos Sin Fronteras, “boldly crossed immigration checkpoints, military bases, and police in a desperate, sometimes chaotic march toward the United States,” BuzzFeed News first reported Friday. It also noted that “despite their being in Mexico without authorization, no one has made any effort to stop them.”

Close

The immigrants reportedly plan either to enter the U.S. illegally — or to enter by requesting asylum.

“Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. ‘Caravans’ coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!” Trump tweeted Sunday.

“Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow [the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement]. NEED WALL!” Trump added. “These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!”

National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) union chief Brandon Judd blasted the Mexican government Sunday on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends,” accusing officials there of “assisting these individuals that are coming up to the United States” with the caravan.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

[lz_ndn video=”33686518″]

“These individuals do not have passports or legal documents to be in Mexico, yet you got an agency that’s helping them get to our [U.S.] border,” Judd said. “Once they enter the country, even if we are standing at the border with our hands out saying, ‘Don’t enter, don’t enter,’ all they have to do is cross one foot into the border and we have to take them into custody.”

“If they ask for asylum or say, ‘I fear [going] back to my country,’ then we have to process them under ‘credible fear,’ which allows them to be released into our country,” Judd added.

Trump last September rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by his predecessor’s illegal executive order and gave Congress time to reach a legislative fix before the program officially ended.

But lawmakers have since struggled to reach an agreement on a DACA fix. While Democrats and many Republicans approve of offering amnesty to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, Trump and GOP immigration hawks have refused to grant amnesty without securing Trump’s key immigration enforcement objectives. Democrats balked despite Trump’s offer to grant amnesty to 1.8 million illegals, far more than the estimated DACA total of about 800,000.

Related: ‘Now Is the Time to Act’ on Border Security, 400 Sheriffs Say

Although Congress failed to reach an immigration agreement guaranteeing DACA amnesty and complete border wall funding before passing the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill in March, the bill included $1.6 billion in funding for some border security measures.

By threatening to wield NAFTA against Mexico, Trump also hearkened back to another one of his signature campaign promises: renegotiating or nixing unfair trade agreements that slapped U.S. workers and companies with unfair trade deficits while benefiting other countries.

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.

(photo credit, homepage image: Donald Trump, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore; photo credit, article image: Donald J. Trump at Marriott Marquis NYC, CC BY-SA 4.0, by Michael Vadon)