President puts spotlight on ‘angels’
Meets with families of undocumented immigrants’ victims
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out against critics of his “zero tolerance” immigration policy Friday at a White House event that included 14 “angels” — a term for families whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants.
“These are the families the media ignores,” Trump charged, later adding, “No major networks sent cameras to their homes.”
As undocumented immigrant parents separated from their children at the border began to be reunited, the White House chose to showcase parents who will never be reunited with their children.
The event — set on a stage with “Secure Our Borders” signs — showed a pugnacious president not backing down from his policy, just days after he signed an executive order to end family separations that had followed a directive to charge all adults apprehended
‘ANGELS’
President Donald Trump’s stop at the Nevada Republican Party’s convention Saturday marks an aggressive push by the GOP to protect its majority in Washington by winning key races in the battleground state.
It also marks the “biggest day” of state GOP leader Greg Bailor’s career.
“It’s an honor to have a sitting Republican president visit any of our political parties,” said Bailor, the party’s executive director of three years. “I’m very honored to have the president visit my home state. It’s a big day for me and for our staff.”
Trump will land at Mccarran International Airport at 10:50 a.m. Saturday before heading to the Suncoast for the GOP state convention. The president will attend a private fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Dean Heller — who faces the re-election battle of his career against Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen — before addressing party delegates at noon.
Traffic could be snarled around the 215 Beltway and along Interstate 15 on Saturday, transportation officials said.
Trump’s 45-minute speech is expected to stress the significance of Republicans winning hotly contested Nevada congressional races on the November ballot, including the faceoff between Heller and Rosen.
“I imagine he’ll talk about the importance of our Senate race here in Nevada
TRUMP
crossing the border illegally.
“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,” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
Trump’s suggestion that the stories were erroneous was likely fueled by revelations Friday about one of the defining images to this point in the crisis, a 2-year-old Honduran girl crying as her mother was stopped by a Border Patrol agent. The girl in the photograph, who ended up on the cover of Time magazine this week, was not separated from her mother but detained with her, the child’s father told the Daily Mail. Time said it stood by the image because it captures “the stakes of this moment.”
The president also told Republicans in Congress to “stop wasting their time” crafting an immigration bill until after the November election — a reversal from his #CHANGETHELAWS tweet earlier in the week.
Work on compromise bill
On Capitol Hill on Friday, the mood was gloomy, particularly among the more centrist Republicans who have been pushing a compromise bill. That measure would provide $25 billion for Trump’s border wall and set new limits on family visas in favor of merit-based entry, but it also would create a path to citizenship for young “Dreamers.”
House GOP leaders have made it clear they do not expect the immigration bill to pass, but they have little choice but to press forward with a vote next week and keep a promise made to moderate Republicans.
The “angels” issue has been a constant for Trump. During his presidential campaign, he frequently referred to Americans killed by immigrants that he argues never should have been in the United States.
On the campaign trail, Trump frequently welcomed Jamiel Shaw Sr., whose 17-year-old son Jamiel Shaw II was murdered in 2008 by an undocumented immigrant who was a gang member. The killer wrongly believed the young African-american with a red Spider-man backpack belonged to a rival gang.
At Friday’s event, a somber Trump acknowledged a number of the 14 parents who stood on the stage with
large photos of their slain sons and daughters. To start, he introduced Laura Wilkerson of Pearland, Texas, whose son Joshua was tortured and beaten to death in 2010 by an undocumented immigrant.
“We weren’t lucky enough to be separated for five days or 10 days. We’re separated permanently,” Wilkerson said. “Any time we want to see or be close to our kids, we go to the cemetery, because that’s where they are.”
Steve Ronnenbeck of Mesa, Arizona, told a similar tale. On his murdered son Grant’s birthday, Ronnenbeck said, “I go to his grave. For Christmas, we set up a Christmas tree on Grant’s grave.”
Like other parents, Ronnenbeck faulted the news media for not telling the story of his family’s loss.
Vice President Mike Pence stood with Trump. Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen sat among the parents. Border Patrol agents and law enforcement personnel also sat in the auditorium.
‘The real victims’
Californian Don Rosenberg, founder of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime, told the Las Vegas Review-journal the White House called him about a week ago, before
the executive order signing.
“This administration is interested in the real victims of illegal immigration,” he said.
Most high-profile Democrats refrained from commenting on the White House event. But Democratic