President Donald Trump used a White House event to pay tribute to federal immigration officials, returning to the fight over the US southern border. The president honoured the employees of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Protection yesterday. The federal agencies have been thrust into the debate over the Trump administration's separation of migrant children from their parents after they illegally crossed the US-Mexico border. "We love you, we support you, we will always have your back," Trump said.

He added: "For America to be a strong nation, we must have strong borders." Trump has assailed some Democratic lawmakers for seeking to abolish ICE ahead of the November mid-term elections. In a letter to state and local leaders, Trump wrote that ICE workers had been subjected to a "nationwide campaign of smears, insults and attacks" by politicians "catering to the extreme elements in our society." At the White House event, Trump said that most people support ICE and that opponents are "just a small group that gets a lot of publicity."