US President Donald Trump defended his policy of separating children from their families who have been illegally crossing the southern US-Mexico border, saying, to prosecute parents for illicit entry, "you have to take the children away."
"I don't want children taken away from parents. When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally—which should happen—you have to take the children away," CNN quoted Trump, as saying.
He delivered his remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th Anniversary Celebration.
"They are fake. They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe," he added.
The Trump administration's immigration policy is facing a backlash from both Democrats and Republicans, who call it inhuman to separate the minors from their families during immigration.
But, Trump has aggressively defended his policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border, accusing the migrants of "infesting" the country, media reports said.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump used language evoking images of pests, not human beings, when describing migrants approaching the US border and blaming the Democrats for the problem, reports CNN.
"Democrats are the problem," he wrote.
"They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country... They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!
Later at a small business event here on Tuesday, Trump declared that he had no choice but to remove children from their parents at the border.
"We want a great country. We want a country with heart. But when people come up, they have to know they can't get in," he said. "Otherwise it's never going to stop."
He also declared that the US needed to be secured, whether or not that seems politically palatable.
"You have to stand for something and you have to stand for safety and security of our country. We can't let people pour in," he said. "Maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not. We've got to stop separation of the families, but politically correct or not, we have a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected."
Nearly 2,000 children were taken away from their parents in a six-week period in April and May under the new Trump administration policy, according to several media reports.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy on the border in April to prosecute immigrants for entering the country illegally.
By virtue of this policy, families who crossed together illegally would in some cases be separated, prompting a sweeping outcry from Democrats and immigration advocates.
Parents have since been arrested and placed in quick federal court proceedings near the border, while children are placed in shelters.
Mexico's foreign minister has called the US policy "cruel and inhuman".
Trump has repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the situation.
"Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!" Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Images of young children housed in metal cages have set off a nationwide outcry that has reached the White House.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also defended the administration's controversial policy along with Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, who gave a forceful explanation of the actions, arguing that it had no choice, reports The New York Times.
"Parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals," Nielsen said on Tuesday.
"By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk."
House Republicans are planning to vote on two immigration measures this week.