US President Donald Trump once again called on Democrats to support tighter immigration laws, threatening to dump “an unlimited supply” of illegal immigrants in so-called sanctuary cities to force a change.

“Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing illegal immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only,” the president tweeted on Friday, adding: “The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy – so this should make them very happy!”

@realDonaldTrump Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only....

Answering reporters at an unrelated press event an hour later, Trump elaborated on his plan.

“We’re apprehending thousands and thousands of people a day,” he said, adding that current laws only allow those caught to be held in custody for 20 days. “We can fix that so fast, if the Democrats would agree,” otherwise “we bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it.”

Trump’s announcement wasn’t a total surprise, as two Department of Homeland Security officials told the Washington Post on Thursday night that his administration has proposed similar plans before, as a political move to pressure Democrats into supporting immigration reform. However, CNN and the Post both reported that the DHS and White House denied the proposal was still under consideration – before Trump revived it on Friday.

@Alyssa_Milano This is so sick and twisted.

White House proposed releasing immigrant detainees in sanctuary cities, targeting political foes. https://www.washingtonpost.com...

The political retribution was proposed in November and again in February, but immigration authorities rejected the idea as inappropriate, rebuffing the White House.