WASHINGTON �� President Donald Trump said that if migrant families fear they'll be separated by the U.S. government, it may deter them from illegally crossing the border from Mexico, suggesting that he's reconsidering a policy abandoned in July after widespread public condemnation.
"We have people trying to come in like never before," Trump said as he left the White House on Saturday for a campaign rally in Kentucky. "If they feel there will be separation, then they won't come.
"I want a lot of people to come in," but they have to do so legally, Trump said.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the White House was reconsidering a policy known as "zero tolerance" that caused nearly 3,000 children to be taken from their caregivers and placed in federal custody after they were apprehended crossing the border this year.
Members of Congress of both parties criticized the policy, and the plight of the children _ held in detention centers run by government contractors for weeks or months apart from their parents or guardians _ caused broad outrage among the American public.
Trump issued an order in July to end the practice.
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(Ryan Beene contributed to this report.)
