Working with Democrats on the nation's infrastructure over the next two years would be the "easiest thing" because both sides want it, President Donald Trump said in an interview airing Friday, but he wants work done on the immigration laws.
"[House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi told me very strongly they want to do infrastructure, but we have other things we can do," Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "Immigration is a total disaster for this country...people are pouring in."
Border Patrol officials are going an "incredible job," he added, but continue construction is needed on the nation's border wall.
"We are building a lot of wall right now," Trump said. "We are building the wall and it's going up fast, big, strong, looks good, not the horrible thing they were building before I got here."
Without a wall, you don't have border security, he added, and there is going to be a "lot of wall built pretty soon."
His comments came as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Thursday that immigration arrests fell at the end of 2018, compared to the same time period last year, while authorities said there is a need to deal with "alarming rates" of migrant families hoping to cross the border.
ICE also reported that enforcement resources were stretched thin inside the country, while agents work to deal with the overflow at the U.S.-Mexico border, with record numbers of immigrants from Central America arriving to seek asylum.