President Trump stated that he was unsure whether illegal migrants should be afforded due process under the Fifth Amendment. He cited concerns about the time and resources required for legal proceedings, and expressed concerns about the potential for the release of criminals.
Trump appeared to retract previous comments about seeking a third term, stating that it is against the law. He also stated that annexing Canada was unlikely, contradicting prior statements.
Trump suggested that either Marco Rubio or JD Vance could lead the MAGA movement after him.
Trump stated that he relies on the Attorney General for legal matters related to immigration. He mentioned a specific case involving the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his past allegations concerning the individual.
Quizzed on whether illegal migrants should be allowed “due process”, guaranteed under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, the president repeated: “I don’t know.”
“The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court,” Mr Trump added, complaining it would take “300 years” to do so.
“We’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials. We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth,” he said.
However, Mr Trump, who has been criminally indicted four times, was careful to say he would not defy a Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom his administration claims was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
“I’m relying on the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, who’s very capable, doing a great job,” he said.
“Because I’m not involved in the legality or the illegality. I have lawyers to do that.”
He has previously claimed Mr Abrego Garcia, who is being held in a prison in El Salvador, is a violent gang member.
However, the US president appeared to step back on some of his recent controversial comments – including running for a third term, which is banned under the Twenty-Second Amendment.
“It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do… this is not something I’m looking to do,” he said.
“I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.”
He declined to endorse a successor, but said his Maga (Make America Great Again) movement could continue without him at its helm, and suggested either Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, or JD Vance, the vice president, could take over.
Mr Trump also said it was “highly unlikely” he would seek to annex Canada, having previously refused to rule out military force to acquire the US’ northern neighbour as the “51st state”.
“I think we’re not going to ever get to that point… I don’t see it with Canada,” he said.
He said Mark Carney, the newly elected Canadian prime minister, had been “very nice” in a phone call and that he would be visiting the US this week or next.
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