US President Donald Trump signed photos of murder victims at an anti-immigration event. Photo / Getty Images
Evidently Donald Trump will put his signature to anything.
The US President autographed photos of deceased young people at an anti-immigration White House event on Friday, in a move that's been widely condemned on social media.
This morning, Trump doubled down on his tough immigration stance, calling for "strength and security at the border" and stressing that immigrants cannot be allowed to "invade our country".
The "Angel Families" event on Friday saw Trump flanked by families who had lost loved ones at the hands of undocumented immigrants.
A total of 11 photos were held by the family members — and all of them had Trump's signature scrawled next to their faces in large-tipped black pen.
Twitter users were baffled by the move:
Trump used the event to dismiss tragic stories of children separated from their families at the border, saying the real victims were Americans killed by undocumented immigrants.
"Your loved ones have not died in vain," Trump said at the rally. "These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones.
"Permanently — they're not separated for a day or two days, these are permanently separated.
"These are the stories that Democrats and people that are weak on immigration, they don't want to discuss, they don't want to hear, they don't want to see, they don't want to talk about."
A task force has been set up to repatriate migrant families divided at the Mexican border under Trump's "zero tolerance" approach, a report said, as opposition Democrats on Saturday kept up the pressure against a "barbaric" policy.
Trump ordered an end to the family separations which have sparked domestic and global outrage last week, but the fate of the more than 2300 separated children remains unclear.
US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar issued an order on Friday to create the reunification task force, Politico reported, citing an internal document it had obtained.
Reflecting the breadth and complexity of the challenge, the document orders the department's preparedness and response office — which deals with emergencies and public health disasters — to assist its refugee resettlement office with the effort.
Politico quoted HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer as saying that Azar was "bringing to bear all the relevant resources of the department in order to assist in the reunification or placement of unaccompanied alien children and teenagers with a parent or appropriate sponsor".
The department did not immediately respond to an AFP request for confirmation. In an effort to staunch the flow of tens of thousands of migrants from Central America and Mexico arriving at the southern boundary every month, Trump in early May had ordered that all those crossing the border illegally would be arrested, and their children held separately as a result.
In an about-face, he then ordered an end to the splitting up of parents and children, saying it was administration policy to "maintain family unity … where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources".
"I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated," he said.
— With wires
Six people have now died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning event.