Trump signs order stopping family separation

Trump, who is headed to Duluth Wednesday evening for a Make America Great Again Rally, added: 'If you're really pathetically weak the country is going to be overrun by millions of people, and if you're strong then you don't have any heart... perhaps I'd rather be strong'.

"There are now 239 children right here as a result of the Trump administration's family separation policy", he said.

American issued a statement explaining that the airline had requested that the government "refrain" from using their services. Obama wrote. "Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?"

Trump said his daughter Ivanka also spoke with him several times to express her concerns.

This meeting marks Mr. Trump's second meeting with Congress this week, following his meeting with House GOP members Tuesday, in the midst of a backlash over the separation of immigrant children from their parents who enter the country illegally through the southern border.

Lines of migrant children move through an immigration detention center in Texas.

Trump acted as it became clear that House Republicans were unable to reach consensus on either of two immigration bills they were considering that included provisions to halt family separations.

More than 2,300 children have been taken from parents since May 5 under the current policy.

One administration official said Trump's order would end separations by keeping families together in immigration detention centres.

He continued to blame the Democrats for the policy, having previously said it is "their law" that causes separation at the border.

Leaders in both the House and Senate are struggling to shield the party's politicians from the public outcry over images of children taken from migrant parents and held in cages at the border.

Trump had tweeted early Wednesday, before issuing his order, "It's the Democrats fault, they won't give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation".

President Donald Trump told a group of House Republicans he would back any immigration bill they passed, a White House spokesman said.

"I'll be doing something that's somewhat preemptive and ultimately will be matched by legislation I'm sure", Trump said.

But in fact they show thousands of youngsters detained at the United States border under the Obama administration in 2014.

In the meeting late Tuesday, Mr. Trump stopped short of telling House Republicans that he would immediately reverse his policy.

The votes are expected Thursday afternoon, according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Because any illegal border crossing is prosecuted, parents and children are separated during the legal process.

Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also played a role.

The New York Times reports that the order will call for indefinitely detaining families.

A subsequent ruling in 2016 required the government to release underage migrants from immigration detention within 72 hours and place them in the "least restrictive" settings possible, while generally barring the government from keeping children in family detention centres for more than 20 days.

But Mr. Trump is also urging Congress to pass "comprehensive" immigration legislation to fix border security, as he had before announcing the executive order.

The only black member of Trump's cabinet is Ben Carson, who heads the Department of Housing and Urban Development.