US border crisis: Trump celebrates ICE 'heroes' as he makes immigration focus ahead of crucial midterm elections

'Our laws are no good. Our immigration laws are broken. They’ve been broken for years and the world is laughing at us'

Mr Trump called a Border Patrol agent up to speak during his White House event (EPA)

Donald Trump has pledged to fight back against an effort to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claiming that Democrats who support such a move are promoting violence and lawlessness, as he seeks to make immigration the single biggest issue ahead of crucial midterm elections

Speaking at the White House to a group of ICE officials and US Customs and Border Protection, the president called them "heroes" and vowed to support the efforts to secure America’s borders. Mr Trump built his presidential campaign around the issue of illegal immigration, and looks to be doing the same before November's vote, where Republicans will be seeking to keep control of Congress.

“Our laws are no good. Our immigration laws are broken. They’ve been broken for years and the world is laughing at us. The world is laughing at the stupidity of what we’ve done with immigration,” Mr Trump said.

“The true champions of justice are right in this room,” he continued. “And they’re proudly wearing the badge of law enforcement”.

Looking forward to November, Mr Trump suggested that a vote for Democrats is a vote for lax border enforcement and, potentially, against the very existence of ICE. Providing an alternative to the vision he said some Democrats have for the future of American immigration enforcement, Mr Trump said he plans on securing a bigger budget for border enforcement agencies, reforming US immigration laws, and building his highly promoted US-Mexico border wall.

“Sadly, in recent months, incredibly, a coalition of open boarders extremists — and, to me, that means crime, people who don’t mind crime — … have waged an unprecedented assault on our law enforcement,” Mr Trump said of the movement to abolish ICE.

A “blue wave means crime," Mr Trump said, talking about the possibility of Democrats turning enough seats to take control of the House of Representatives and possibly also the Senate. "It means open borders. Not good,” the president added.

A push to abolish ICE has gained momentum in recent months after the Trump administration implemented a policy that separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents after entering into the United States.

That policy, known as “zero-tolerance” - so that all adults caught crossing the border illegally would be sent for prosecution - sparked bipartisan criticism of Mr Trump’s immigration plan. It also led to protests outside of ICE field offices where the day to day operations of the agency were disrupted by demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump signed an executive order to stop family separation, and a judge ordered the reunification of families separated by the Trump administration policies — a directive that has not yet been fully completed, with many human rights and aids groups still talking of a crisis at the border.

As those policies and outrage over American immigration policies has spread, the electoral wins of far left candidates such as New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who has called for the abolition of ICE — have bolstered the case, and even led to some in the Democratic party’s so-called establishment to urge the end of the federal agency.

Mr Trump has struggled to pass meaningful legislation on immigration since taking office, in spite of Republican control of the House and the Senate. But, he has consistently pushed for bigger budgets for immigration enforcement agencies, while at the same time attempting to slash other agencies’ budgets.

He requested a 7.8 per cent increase to the budget for the Department of Homeland Security in 2019, for instance, which would peg that agency’s budget at $47.5bn.