RESTON, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump says his immigration plan is needed to protect the borders.

Trump visited the U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center in Virginia on Friday. At a roundtable with top homeland security officials, the Republican president said their jobs would be "100 percent easier" with the right laws.

The White House has proposed creating a path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million young people living in the county illegally. In exchange, they want billions of dollars for a border wall and dramatic cuts to legal immigration.

Democrats have blasted the plan and called it dead on arrival.

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Trump says Democrats "can't even approve citizenship."