Trump: U.S. ‘will not be a migrant camp’
Immigration outrage spills into Canada; first ladies speak out
WASHINGTON — An unapologetic U.S. President Donald Trump defended his administration’s border-protection policies Monday in the face of rising national outrage over the forced separation of migrant children from their parents. Calling for tough action against illegal immigration, Trump declared the U.S. “will not be a migrant camp” on his watch.
Images of children held in fenced cages fuelled a growing chorus of condemnation from both political parties, four former first ladies and national evangelical leaders. The children are being held separately from parents who are being prosecuted under the administration’s “zerotolerance” policy for illegal border crossings.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” Trump said Monday as his administration rejected criticism that the policy has resulted in inhuman and immoral conditions.
Trump pointed to more lenient policies under past administrations that had not charged all migrants who had crossed illegally.
“We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in an appearance before the National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans. “Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards.”
Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new “zero-tolerance” policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. Prior procedure had limited prosecution for many family entrants, in part because regulations prohibit detaining children with their parents since the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.
The policy change was meant to deter unlawful crossings — and Sessions issued a warning last month to those entering the U.S. illegally that their children “inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions.”
The current holding areas have drawn widespread attention after journalists gained access to one site Sunday. At a McAllen, Texas, detention centre hundreds of immigrant children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about were bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets.
Administration officials said they do not like the family separations, either — calling it the result of legal loopholes — but insist migrants who arrive illegally simply won’t be released or loosely kept track of.
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump declared. “Not on my watch.”
Sessions, on Monday, echoed the administration’s defence of the zero tolerance policy, and called on Congress to act.
“We do not want to separate parents from their children,” he said. “If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won’t face these terrible choices.”
Still the White House said it would reject any narrow fix aimed solely at addressing the plight of children separated from their parents under the immigration crackdown. Press secretary Sarah Hucakbee-Sanders said Trump’s priorities, such as funding a border wall and tightening immigration laws, must also be fulfilled as part of any legislation.
“We want to fix the whole thing,” she said. “We don’t want to tinker with just part of it.”
Trump’s commitment to the current policy showed no sign of faltering as voices of outrage and condemnation grew louder and more diverse.
In Massachusetts, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker reversed a decision to send a state National Guard helicopter to the southern border, citing what he called the administration’s “cruel and inhumane” policy of separating children from their parents.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, a longtime Trump ally, called the policy “disgraceful.” Several religious groups, including some conservative ones, have pushed to stop the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. The Mormon church said it was “deeply troubled” by the separation of families and urged national leaders to find compassionate solutions.
All four living former first ladies have joined the current one, Melania Trump, in an unusual united political front expressing horror at children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
As Michelle Obama put it on Twitter, in support of Laura Bush: “Sometimes truth transcends party.”
Obama, a Democrat, wrote those words as she re-tweeted Mrs. Bush, a Republican, who first spoke out in an opinion piece Sunday in the Washington Post.
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” Mrs. Bush said on Twitter as she shared her column.
Hillary Clinton, speaking at a women’s event in New York, said the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that has separated children and parents at the southern border was a “moral and humanitarian crisis.”
A statement from Mrs. Trump’s office said she “hates” to see families separated at the border. Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said Sunday, “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”
But the statement didn’t reference the “no tolerance” policy and instead said Mrs. Trump hoped “both sides of the aisle” can change immigration laws.
The senior among the first ladies, Rosalynn Carter, spoke through the Carter Center: “The practice and policy today of removing children from their parents’ care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country.”
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will not “play politics” over immigration policies.
Trudeau said his role is to stand up for Canadian values but also to maintain a constructive relationship with the U.S.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan (Vancouver-Mount Pleasant) urged Trudeau to respond by suspending Canada’s Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S.
“If there was ever a time for Canada to step up, the moment is now,” Kwan said.
“It’s clear to me the United States is no longer a safe country for asylum seekers. It is time for Canada to step up and suspend the Safe Third Country agreement and to rally the international community to action and to deal with Trump.”