In a White House meeting in late March, President Trump sought to close the border at El Paso, Texas, according to CNN.

 “[I]n a meeting at the Oval Office with top officials — including Nielsen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, top aides Jared Kushner, Mercedes Schlapp and Dan Scavino, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and more — the President, according to one attendee, was “ranting and raving, saying border security was his issue.”Senior administration officials say that Trump then ordered Nielsen and Pompeo to shut down the port of El Paso the next day, Friday, March 22, at noon. The plan was that in subsequent days the Trump administration would shut down other ports.”

Homeland Secretary Nielsen advised Trump that would be a bad and even dangerous idea and that by closing ports, he would be only hurting legal trade and travel. Trump reportedly said, “I don’t care.”

Then Nielsen tried to explain to Trump that asylum laws allow migrants to come to the U.S. and gain entry.

CNN’s @jaketapper reports President Trump pushed to close the US-Mexico border at El Paso, Texas, and told agents not to admit migrants and to resume family separations. https://t.co/HKICgohx0v pic.twitter.com/SyHdfswcFu

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) April 8, 2019

CNN is also reporting when Trump visited Calexico, California on Friday he told Border Patrol agents behind the scenes not to allow migrants in. From CNN:

“Tell them we don’t have the capacity, he said. If judges give you trouble, say, “Sorry, judge, I can’t do it. We don’t have the room.”After the President left the room, agents sought further advice from their leaders, who told them they were not giving them that direction and if they did what the President said they would take on personal liability. You have to follow the law, they were told.”

Senior administration officials also tell CNN that Trump has been pushing to renew family separations for those seeking asylum at the border. From CNN:

“According to multiple sources, the President wanted families separated even if they came in at a legal port of entry and were legal asylum seekers. The President wanted families separated even if they were apprehended within the US. He thinks the separations work to deter migrants from coming.Sources told CNN that Nielsen tried to explain they could not bring the policy back because of court challenges, and White House staffers tried to explain it would be an unmitigated PR disaster.”