Trump wants people to come to US on merit, insists on building wall

Washington: Insisting that building a wall is the only solution to prevent the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs inside the US, President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he wants people to come to America based on merit.

"We want people to come in based on merit. We want people to come in that can help us successfully run all these companies that are pouring into the US because of what we've done and because of all of the incentives, that we've given, and because this is where the action is," Trump told reporters at a White House meeting with Republican leaders and administration officials on immigration proposal.

The US under him, he said, is doing well. "We have a lot of people that, really, we need. We have the lowest unemployment rate we've had in much more than 50 years, with African American, with Asian American, with Hispanic American. We have the lowest unemployment rate we've had in the history of our country," the US President said.

Trump insisted that building a wall was a must to end the flow of illegal immigrants to the US. "We have to have a wall. We have to have a barricade of some kind -- a steel barricade. It's already designed," he said.

Trump has sought USD 5.7 billion from the Congress to fund the construction of his wall. The opposition Democrats have blocked that, resulting in a partial government shutdown for 33 days now.

"Because of the strong economy, everyone is pouring up, and we're stopping them. But it's a lot of work," he said and alleged that "radical Democrats" don't want the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Speaking on the Senate floor, Minority leader Chuck Schumer alleged that Trump's proposal demands a wall and radical legal immigration changes in exchange for opening up the government.

"The president says, totally incorrectly, misstating all the facts, that we need a big wall for our security. Well, even if he succeeds, which he won't, I believe, it would take years to build that wall," he said.

"And there's eminent domain and so many other issues that it might never be built at all. But hurting TSA, hurting border patrol, hurting FBI agents, air traffic controllers, food safety inspectors, Coast Guard members? They deal with our security right now. So if you believe in the security of America you vote yes on the second vote – no matter what you think of the wall," Schumer said.