Trump suggests feeding migrants to ALLIGATORS to fix the overrun border: Ex-president says 'problem solved' in apparent joke

Former President Donald Trump floated a new plan Wednesday to solve the border crisis: Feed migrants to alligators. 

The ex-president shared a meme to his Truth Social website Wednesday afternoon, which showed an image of six alligators with the words 'new border security' and 'will work for food' superimposed over it. 

'Problem solved!!' the post also said. 

Trump's commentary comes as border crossings returned to the levels from before Title 42 was dropped, with apprehensions hitting 8,000 on Monday. 

It also comes after The New York Times reported in October 2019 that the then-president floated fortifying his border wall with a moat and filling it with snakes or alligators at an Oval Office meeting some months before. 

Former President Donald Trump shared a meme Wednesday suggesting that migrants should be fed to alligators 

Trump, who's running for another White House term, had pitched fortifying his border wall with a moat and filling it with snakes or alligators, The New York Times reported in 2019 

During that meeting Trump had also pitched electrifying the border fence or adding spikes to the top of it, The Times said. 

He had previously pitched shooting migrants in the legs, though stopped making that suggestion when White House staff told him that was illegal.  

 This month's rise in border apprehensions came after levels dropped off after President Joe Biden's administration ended Title 42 after a long court fight and put in new procedures meant to lower incentives and push more migrants into an online application process.

After hitting 8,000 in May and overwhelming U.S. border facilities, border arrests dropped to around 3,500 in the intervening months, CNN reported.

Policy changes have fundamentally altered economic and other incentives, with new video emerging Monday of migrants cheering while hanging off the side of rolling freight trains on the way to the U.S. border.

Astounding footage of the FerroMex train was shot as the locomotive with hundreds in tow could be seen coming out of the Central Mexican city of Zacatecas as it made its way northbound on the 750-mile journey toward the U.S.

On Tuesday the company announced it was suspending runs in northern Mexico due to safety concerns. 

 The company said it was halting 60 cargo trains, with enough material to fill 1,800 tractor trailers.

It was a change significant enough to impact international trade, the company said. Rail is also a cleaner way to move large amounts of freight than gas. 

Migrants navigate the Rio Grande river for an entry point into the United States into Eagle Pass, Texas on Friday 

A freight train, packed to capacity with migrants, has been captured on video as it travels at full speed toward the Mexican border with the United States

Footage shows the FerroMex train departing from the Central Mexican city of Zacatecas, heading north on a 750-mile journey toward the U.S. 

The company cited a handful of 'regrettable cases of injuries or deaths' among those jumping aboard.

It said migrants were jumping on board the cargo trains despite the 'grave danger that represents,' the Associated Press reported. 

It cited a 'significant increase' and said stopping the trains would 'protect the physical safety of the migrants' as authorities address the problem.

The number of Americans calling immigration a 'good thing' dropped in a Gallup poll this summer. 

That comes in the run-up to a presidential campaign where immigration is set to be a top issue, with Republican candidates hammering the Biden administration on the issue.  

There were 184,000 migrant encounters with border agents in July, up from 144,000 in June. 

Those figures were actually down compared to the 200,000 crossings at the southern border during the same period in 2021 and 2022.