US President Donald Trump is "scaring the children" of the country by vowing to deport undocumented immigrants , House speaker Nancy Pelosi says she told him.
At an event in New York to discuss immigration policy on Monday, Pelosi said she warned Trump in a phone conversation Friday evening that the move would harm all children in America.
"When I spoke to the president, I said, look, I'm a mom, I have five kids, seven, nine grandchildren. And children are scared. You're scaring the children of America. Not just in those families, but their neighbors and their communities. You're scaring the children," Pelosi said, to which Trump responded that "people broke the law."
Trump Saturday delayed the planned raids against immigrant communities in 10 major cities, which were supposed to start on Sunday.
“I said, a violation of status is not a reason for deportation, that’s just not so,” the House majority leader said she told Trump. “If you have some people who are guilty that you want to make a case against, that has nothing to do with violation of status, because then we’re talking about over 10 million people who may be subjected to this treatment, and what we need there is comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.”
Trump has given the House and Senate two weeks to agree on his request for $4.5 billion in funding to tackle the immigrants’ influx at the southern border but it is unlikely that the two chambers can agree in the upcoming vote this week.
Despite his relentless focus on a border wall, Trump has so far failed to build one and make Mexico pay for it.