Trump news: President announces immigration proposal as US on 'cusp of full-scale confrontation' with Iran

Follow the latest updates from Washington and on the 2020 campaign trail, as it happened

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Donald Trump has announced his plans for a sweeping reform to America's immigration system, calling for increased border security and the elimination of visa lottery systems he descibed as running contrary to the American belief system.

The president announced the immigration plan from the White House Rose Garden, where he claimed a strong US economy set up a perfect situation for the United States to take the plunge and fix its broken immigration system.

"We must implement an immigration system that will allow our citizens to prosper for generations to come," Mr Trump said to an assembled group of Republican lawmakers and supporters, with a warm Washington spring sun shining down.

Mr Trump's plan is likely dead on arrival, in spite of the president's use of the Rose Garden's gravitas to announce his intentions. The plan, which would drastically change Ameriac's immigration system, does nothing to address the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US already — a major point of concern for many Democats, who control the House of Representatives.

The announcement came as Mr Trump's administration found itself in a tense stand-off with Iran, with a military commander for that nation warning that his country is on the "cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy" as the US appeared to prepare for a potential armed conflict.

US officials, in spite of those harsh words, indicated that America is not looking for war — and reports indicated that Mr Trump himself is uncomfortable with the idea of the war preparations in his own adminstration.

The comment from Iranian major-general Hossein Salami of the Revolutionary Guards comes despite reassurances from secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that neither sides wants their dispute over economic sanctions to descend into war.

Meanwhile, with the US already embroiled in a trade war with China over tariffs, the president has blacklisted foreign telecoms giants including Huawei from trading in the US in the interests of national security. Later on Thursday, the presiden plans to unveil plans to revamp the country’s immigration system and launches a website to combat the censorship of conservatives on social media.

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Key Points

• Iran on 'cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy', says commander
• Trump blacklists foreign telecoms giants as Huawei hits back
• President set to unveil modernised immigration system
• Trump pardons disgraced media mogul Conrad Black

[16 May 2019 19:57 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Trump says that future immigrants will have to "learn English" and "pass a civics exam" prior to admission into the United States.

[16 May 2019 20:00 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Trump is wrapping his speech up now.

[16 May 2019 20:25 · Clark Mindock]

[16 May 2019 20:45 · Clark Mindock]

Here's the latest from our very own Robert Fisk:

[16 May 2019 21:10 · Clark Mindock]

[16 May 2019 21:30 · Clark Mindock]