Millions waiting for legal immigration to US will be admitted soon: Trump

US President Donald Trump has said "millions of people" who are waiting for legal immigration to America will be admitted soon.

Addressing an election rally in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said he wants "a strong border".

"A vote for Democrats is a vote for open borders and a vote for tax hikes...I think I would be a failed politician if I had to really promote open borders. Everybody comes in...We pay for all of the things we just went over," he said.

Justifying his decision to deploy military on the southern border with Mexico to stop a caravan of several thousand people from Latin American to enter the US illegally, he said, "I want them to come into our country, but they have to come in legally and they have to come in through merit system."

A caravan of people, estimated to be between 5,000 and 7,000 from three Latin American countries -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, is headed for the US. It also includes some people from South Asia, according to some media reports.

"We have millions and millions of people right now on line, they have been waiting, sometimes (since) 10 years...they did it right...they signed every paper. They are waiting proudly on line. They are going to be admitted soon," Trump said.

He said it is unfair to those who are waiting for years to have people just walk across a border.

Slamming the Democratic leadership for their open-door policy on immigration, Trump said, "Their laws are no good...we have laws that are the laughingstock of the world because of the Democrats."

Under the existing policy, illegal immigrants are caught and released, he said, adding that the system of visa lottery and chain migration also do not make any sense.