Trump Wanted To Stop Migrants With Snakes and Bullets: NYT

The New York Times (NYT) published Tuesday an article about the upcoming book "Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration," in which anonymous officials revealed some of President Donald Trump's ideas to halt undocumented migrants. Chief among these 'ideas',  were proposals like securing the border with snake-filled trenches and shooting migrants in the legs.

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"Privately, the President had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh," a presidential adviser said, as reported by the NYT.

"After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him."

According to the book's authors, NYT reporters Michael Shear and Julie Davis, Trump's unconventional ideas appeared in meetings held between March and April, when a restructuring of the U.S.immigration policy was sought.

Frustrated by repeated failures to halt migratory flows on the southern border, the U.S. President also proposed to electrify the wall or install spikes capable of piercing the human body.

In that context, he even proposed to shoot immigrants in the legs so that they stop their march towards U.S. territory.

At those meetings, on several ocassions, Washington advisors had to clarify to Trump that shooting migrants was an illegal option.

They also tried to convince him that it was not feasible to completely close the border with Mexico as he wanted.