Maduro feeling the heat as Trump gives CIA authority for covert operations in Venezuela

"I authorized for two reasons really," Trump said. "Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America...they came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "And the other thing are drugs," Trump said.

He added that the US has made progress intercepting drug shipments at sea, and that additional efforts are now focused on overland routes.

"We are looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump said.

Reuters could not independently determine what specific actions Trump has authorized and the White House declined to elaborate on the president's comments.