Trump talks immigration, NATO while at Tampa’s MacDill AFB – Firstcoastnews.com

President Trump arrives for a visit to MacDill Air Force Base.

10News Staff , WTSP 4:07 PM. EST February 06, 2017

President Trump speaking at MacDill AFB in Tampa PHOTO: First Coast News

TAMPA, Fla. -- President Donald Trump is pressing the need for more stringent screening while his immigration order is on hold by the courts.

Trump says in remarks at the U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force base in Florida that, "We need strong programs" so that "people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in" and those who "want to destroy us and destroy our country" are kept out.

He says, "Freedom, security and justice will prevail."

Trump is also warning that the Islamic State group "is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world."

He's delivering a message: "To these forces of death and destruction: America and its allies will defeat you."

The president also told the military personnel at MacDill, "we strongly support NATO."

The president praised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a speech at U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force base in Florida.

Trump's comments follow his conversation Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two "discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments," as well as the crisis in Ukraine and security challenges facing NATO countries.

Trump agreed during that conversation to attend a NATO leaders' meeting in Brussels in late May.

Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as "obsolete."

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His trip to Tampa comes after a weekend of demonstrations over his controversial plan. On top of the crowds that protested in Tampa over the weekend, thousands protested near his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate with signs and chants that rebuked the presidents anti-immigration stance outlined in his executive order.

President Trump has said before that he supports immigration, but concerns over terrorism have forced him to be more forceful with protecting the countrys borders.

( 2017 WTSP)

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Trump talks immigration, NATO while at Tampa's MacDill AFB - Firstcoastnews.com