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(CNN) - President Donald Trump suggested shooting immigrants in the legs to slow down after they cross the southern border. He would have said that during a meeting in March in which he called for the closure of the entire US-Mexico border, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Citing interviews with more than a dozen White House and administration officials directly involved, the New York Times , in an excerpt from the book Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration , reported that Trump had abandoned the idea at the end of the that the Times described as "frantic week of presidential fury." But he had also focused on taking out the staff that had opposed him, an idea widely defended by White House adviser Stephen Miller, in his drive for greater influence on immigration policy. CNN has contacted the White House for comments on the report.
The meeting included Miller, then National Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, then Chief of Customs and Border Protection Kevin McAleenan, interim cabinet chief Mick Mulvaney, presidential advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner and another senior staff, according to the newspaper.
"You're making me look like an idiot!" Trump shouted during the meeting, adding blasphemy, several officials in the room told the Times . “I campaigned with this. It is my business. ”
Nielsen tried to reason with Trump, explaining that closing the border would not prevent migrants from seeking asylum, but he remained firm, according to the Times .
Kushner also tried to reason with the president.
"All you care about is your friends in Mexico," the president replied, the people in the room told the Times . "No more. I want to do it at noon tomorrow. ”
White House advisers persuaded Trump to extend the deadline until the following Friday, pressing Mexican officials to arrest more immigrants and urging Republican lawmakers and Chamber of Commerce officials to convey the repercussions to Trump negative border closures, the Times reported. Kushner and other White House West Wing officials sent an email to Trump about the increase in migrant arrests by Mexico before they could reach the US, according to the newspaper.
Miller told Trump that advisors who continually cite legal restrictions, such as Nielsen, were part of the problem and that the administration should focus on rejecting migrants at the border, The Times reported.
In the middle of the week, Trump seemed to have abandoned the idea and raised the option of imposing tariffs on Nielsen, the newspaper reported. The Times reported that it was later that week that Trump offered a pardon to McAleenan if he was sent to jail for causing border agents to prevent asylum seekers from entering the United States in defiance of US law.
"The president was frustrated and I think he took that moment to press the reset button," the then acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan, told the Times about that week in March. "The president wanted it fixed quickly."
