WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is saying that he needs to use emergency powers to protect the nation from drug dealers and illegal immigrants.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo of Trump signing the declaration Friday in the moments before his scattershot Rose Garden news conference. Trump told stories, without providing evidence, of horrific abuse of women being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border.

He also said the border wall would be needed to battle drug cartels as part of a "virtual invasion" from Mexico. The president declared a national emergency and would find other funds for the wall after expressing unhappiness about a congressional border security deal.

Families of people killed by illegal immigrants were in attendance at the news conference.