US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would sign "something pre-emptive" in order to put an end to the separation of immigrant families at the southern borders of the country.
"We're going to be signing an executive order in a little while…We've got to be keeping families together," Trump said as quoted by a pool reporter. "So I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time, I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country."
The president added that the administration is "going to count on Congress" to address the issue.
The alleged executive order could conclude a long struggle between the president and the opposition, which started last May when US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the Trump administration would adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal migrants.
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The policy includes measures such as taking children away from parents that had been detained by the authorities. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, up to 2,000 immigrant children were separated from their parents between April 19 and May 31, leading to protests across the country. In response, Republican lawmakers have expressed the desire to allow parents and their children to stay together.
