Donald Trump is firing back after news that more than 800 illegal immigrants who were slated for deportation were mistakenly granted U.S. citizenship.
“They probably pressed the wrong button on a computer,” Trump mocked during a campaign rally in High Point, North Carolina. “Welcome to America.”
According to an internal audit, the Department of Homeland Security didn’t have the fingerprints of more than 800 illegal immigrants on file, so they were accidentally granted citizenship.
Fox News reports:
The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general found the immigrants used different names or birthdates to apply for citizenship with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration. In the case of 858 immigrants from “special interest countries or neighboring countries with high rates of immigration fraud,” the discrepancies weren’t caught because their fingerprints were missing from government databases.
“We made them citizens and they were getting ready for deportations,” Trump responded. “Can’t have it.”
During Trump’s campaign rally in North Carolina, he vowed to build a wall along the southern border, and declared that Mexico will pay for it.