Fate of 2,300 children at US border remains unclear
EL PASO, United States (AFP) – The fate of 2,300 children wrested from their parents at the US border with Mexico remained unclear Friday two days after Donald Trump ended migrant family separations, as the president accused Democrats of spinning ''phony'' tales of suffering for electoral gain.
While the US leader bowed to global outrage over the splitting of families, conflicting messages were contributing to a sense of chaos in the handling of the crisis.
Government agencies were unable to say what would happen to the children already sent to tent camps and other facilities spread across the country while their parents were charged with immigration offenses.
Having been forced into a climbdown on the hot-button issue of immigration, Trump swung back into fighting mode – insisting he remained committed to the ''zero tolerance'' policy that aims to deter the flow of migrants from Central America.
''We must maintain a Strong Southern Border. We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the elections,'' he tweeted.
Trump also met at the White House with parents of victims killed by undocumented immigrants.
The parents standing with Trump have been ''permanently separated from their loved ones,'' the president said, ''because they were killed by criminal illegal aliens.''
Trump continued to make political hay out of the crisis, accusing Democrats of ''playing games'' and not supporting tougher border policies. To fellow Republicans, his message was to ''stop wasting their time on Immigration'' until after the November midterm congressional elections.
On Thursday, divided congressional Republicans failed to pass one immigration reform bill, and a second proposal that includes language ending family separations was put off until next week.
While Melania Trump sought to demonstrate concern with a surprise visit to migrant children at the border on Thursday, the administration remained under siege amid continued accounts of parents unable to find their children and no system in place for reuniting them.