Washington, Jan 17 (PTI): US President Donald Trump has said he wants immigrants to come from everywhere even as the White House pushes for a merit-based immigration system.

"I want them to come in from everywhere," Trump told reporters yesterday in a brief response to a question surrounding the controversy about his recent statement in which he allegedly said he wants more people to come from Norway.

Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the president is pushing for a merit-based system irrespective of the country, religion and ethnicity of an applicant.

"He wants immigrants to come in from everywhere, but he wants to do that through a merit-based system," said Sanders.

"By definition, a merit-based system is colour blind. It's not basing it on any of that criteria.It's not based on race, religion or country of origin. It's actually based on the merits of whether or not this person's going to be contributing to society," she said in response to a question.

Sanders said it was a "much more fair system" and the one supported and voted by Democrats "just years ago".

"But now Trump is championing it. The opposition, the Democrats, are just showing absolute signs and definitions of what hypocrisy looks like," said Sanders.

"Democrats need to quit playing politics... They need to come to the table with a real deal based on the parameters that were discussed in the meeting that most of you saw, and let's try to get something done for the American people," Sanders said.