President Donald Trump at a rally in South Carolina Monday described Democrats as "the party of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi," both Democratic representatives from California.
Democrats have fought Trump’s zero-tolerance policy of prosecuting border crossers and the separation of families at the border, with Waters saying Trump officials should be harassed in public. He said they only know how to oppose him.
"They’re only good at one thing—what’s their term? 'Resist,'" he said. "This has become the party of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi."
Pelosi, the House minority leader, condemned Waters’ comments about harassing Trump officials, although she blamed Trump for the climate of hostility. Pelosi has been a vocal critic of Trump in her own right, but Waters has taken several positions that are more extreme, including calls to impeach Trump.
Following Trump’s executive order to keep families intact, various Democrats have called for families not to be detained at all, and some, such as Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), have even said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be abolished. Trump said the party does not support law enforcement at all.
"And the Democrats don’t like ICE -- these are great, brave, tough people," Trump said. "They don’t like border patrol, they don’t like your police, they don’t like anybody."
"They want to protect illegals coming into the country much more so than they want to protect you, and that’s not where we’re coming from," he added. "The Democrats want open borders and they don’t mind crime. We want very tight, very strict borders."
He said they don't want to allow a border wall to be built because it would be effective and a "symbol," and he said the party has become gone to extremes.
He also said he welcomes immigrants that come in legally.
"We want people to come in," Trump said. "We want people to come in through the legal process."