Trump says he wants people with merit to come to US

Having asked for deployment of military on the southern border with Mexico to stop thousands of people from entering the country illegally, US President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants people to come into the US on merit and legally.

His statement came amid 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.

"I called up the military, we're not letting them in, they ought to go back now because do we want them to apply and come in legally? Absolutely," Trump said at a White House event.

While the Caravan of illegal immigrants are moving towards the US, Trump said "millions of people right now are waiting and they've been working this process for in some cases 10 years".

He asserted that his administration will not allow illegal immigrants to come in the country.

"Not going to happen, it's not going to happen.

"We also want people to come in on merit. We need people to help us with all the companies that are moving back to the United States. We have tremendous amounts of companies moving back in. We want people to come in on merit, not people that come in and have no chance of ever loving our country, loving our people," The President said.

Trump said he wants people to come in and help US with those companies.

"Because... we have the lowest employment rate we've had in 50 years, we want to be able to get great people to help those countries. We have tremendous opportunities, tremendous, big, powerful, beautiful companies moving in and coming back," he said.

Trump said illegal immigration has been especially harmful to African-American communities and also to Hispanic American communities by depressing wages and replacing workers.

"That's been happening, and it's been very unfair," he said.

All Americans have the right to have their laws enforced and their borders protected.

He alleged that for decades, policies advanced by Democrats have eliminated opportunity and wiped out good paying jobs and even great paying jobs for the black community.

"Their policies are absolutely adverse to the black community," Trump added.