Transcript President Trump MCCA speech: Border wall being ‘designed right now’ ‘I wasn’t kidding’

I’ve been here two weeks. I’ve met a lot of law enforcement officials. Yesterday, I brought them into the Oval Office. I asked a group, what impact do drugs have in terms of a percentage on crime? They said, 75 to 80 percent. That’s pretty sad. We’re going to stop the drugs from pouring in. We’re going to stop those drugs from poisoning our youth, from poisoning our people. We’re going to be ruthless in that fight. We have no choice.

And we’re going to take that fight to the drug cartels and work to liberate our communities from their terrible grip of violence. You have the power and knowledge to tell General Kelly — now Secretary Kelly — who the illegal immigrant gang members are. Now, you have that power because you know them, you’re there, you’re local. You know the illegals, you know them by their first name, you know them by their nicknames. You have that power. The federal government can never be that precise. But you’re in the neighborhoods — you know the bad ones, you know the good ones.

I want you to turn in the bad ones. Call Secretary Kelly’s representatives and we’ll get them out of our country and bring them back where they came from, and we’ll do it fast. You have to call up the federal government, Homeland Security, because so much of the problems — you look at Chicago and you look at other places. So many of the problems are caused by gang members, many of whom are not even legally in our country.

And we will work with you on the frontlines to keep America safe from terrorism, which is what I began this with. Terrorism — a tremendous threat, far greater than people in our country understand. Believe me. I’ve learned a lot in the last two weeks. And terrorism is a far greater threat than the people of our country understand. But we’re going to take care of it. We’re going to win. We’re going to take care of it, folks.

Let today be the beginning of a great national partnership. Let today serve as a great call to action. And let this moment represent a new beginning in relations between law enforcement and our communities. I want you to know the American public totally stands with you. I want you to know the American people support you. I want you to know how proud we are, truly proud, to know you.

We applaud your efforts. We thank you for your service. And we promise that you will always find an open door at the White House — an open invitation to our great cops and sheriffs nationwide. They’re great people. You are great people.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.