Donald Trump says 'you have to take the children away' as he defends policy that splits up families entering US illegally

President Donald Trump has said "you have to take the children away" as he defended a "zero tolerance" policy that splits up families entering the US illegally.

Speaking at a business convention, Mr Trump said children have to be taken away if their parents are jailed for illegally crossing the US border.

He said while he wants to "solve family separation", splitting up the family is part of the process.

The president had earlier said the country would not become a "refugee holding facility".

While speaking to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Mr Trump said: "I don't want children taken away from parents.

"When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally - which should happen - you have to take the children away."

Mr Trump said he wanted to "end the border crisis" by giving border officials the resources to "detain and remove illegal immigrant families altogether and bring them back to their country".

He said that family separation is the "only solution" to stopping illegal immigration, saying that the police exists "as a result of Democrat-supported loopholes in our federal law".

He added: "These loopholes have created a massive child smuggling trade. Can you believe this?

"In this day and age, we're talking about child smuggling. We're talking about women smuggling, in this day and age."

More than 2,300 minors have been separated from their families crossing the border to the US under a zero-tolerance policy where everyone caught crossing illegally is prosecuted.

The crackdown was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on April 6.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has said there was a 314 per cent increase in adults showing up with kids who are not family members. She said they are traffickers and smugglers.

Ms Nielsen said those legitimately seeking asylum should go to official border crossings with their families and they will not be separated.