President Trump addresses mothers of teen girls killed by MS-13 in State of the Union address

ByCandace McCowan, Eyewitness News WABC logo
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
President Trump addresses mothers of teen girls killed by MS-13
Candace McCowan has more on what President Trump said to the Long Island mothers.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- It's arguably the biggest speech he's given since becoming president.

President Donald Trump delivered his first State of the Union address in front of a divided congress and nation.

Many guests were meant to serve as symbols of praise and resistance to his policies.

The big topic of the night was immigration.

The president pointed specifically to incidents that have happened on Long Island in his speech.

President Trump laid out his policy.

Specifically the president wants to end family-based immigration and the visa lottery system.

He plans to make a large investment in border security and wants to open a path to citizenship for 1.8 million "Dreamers."

In the crowd, were the parents of Long Island teens Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens who were murdered by MS-13 gang members.

The president addressed them directly.

"Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as illegal unaccompanied alien minors and wound up in Kayla and Nisa's high school," President Trump said. "I am calling on congress to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminal gangs to break into our country."

Wednesday in Brentwood, a group is expected to protest the president's immigration policy.

The group says the president is using MS-13 to justify immigration policies that push immigrant families into the shadows as they fear deportation.

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