FALSE BLAME
Trump still attacks Dems for separation policies
President Trump on Saturday repeated his bogus claim that Democrats are to blame for his administration's policy of separating children from their families upon crossing the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico.
The rehashed falsehood from the commander-in-chief came a day after the world learned that federal authorities have pulled nearly 2,000 kids out of the arms of their parents after crossing into the U.S.
“Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!” Trump wrote.
Trump's tweet indicated he is using the separation of families and the detention of children as a negotiating tool to get Democrats to cave on his laundry list of immigration demands, including funding for a border wall, curbing legal immigration and tightening the rules for border enforcement.
“The President has told folks that in lieu of the laws being fixed, he wants to use the enforcement mechanisms that we have,” a White House official told the The Washington Post. “The thinking in the building is to force people to the table.”
Trump — who spent Saturday at his Virginia golf course — reinforced that notion a day earlier at the White House, repeatedly suggesting Democrats have the power to alter the policy.
“I hate the children being taken away,” he said.
The heartbreaking "forced family breakup" has not been enforced by previous administrations. The zero-tolerance approach was announced in April by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Under the policy, adults who cross the border illegally are prosecuted and any children with them are placed into U.S. custody and held in detention centers. According to federal officials, the policy affected 1,995 children between April 19 and May 31.
On Thursday, Sessions cited the Bible in defending the action, arguing criticisms are not “fair or logical and some are contrary to law.”
Sessions' comments led Timothy Cardinal Dolan to call the policy “un-American.”
“I don't think we should obey a law that goes against what God intends that you would take a baby, a child, from their mom,” Dolan told CNN on Friday. “I mean, that's just unjust. That's unbiblical. That's un-American. There could be no Bible passage that would justify that.”
Children are being sent to temporary shelters while their parent are processed, some set up in closed shopping centers and others in tents.
A Father's Day march is planned for Sunday to raise awareness of a newly opened tent camp in Tornillo, Texas, where an estimated 450 beds have been set aside for migrant children who have been separated from their parents. Former City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she will join Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), who is mounting an upstart bid against Sen. Ted Cruz (RTexas), and others at the rally.
The President further complicated matters heading into the weekend by saying he would't sign a “moderate” immigration package being pushed by Republican leaders. The White House later backtracked and said Trump supports the bill.
The President also used his weekly video address to hammer Democrats on immigration, accusing them of playing politics and emboldening gangs like MS-13.
He singled out House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), accusing her of trying to "protect" MS-13 members who he described as "animals" in his remarks.
Pelosi argued earlier in the week that it's up to Trump, not Congress, to end the “barbaric” policy.
"This was an act of the administration," Pelosi said. "They had been planning this for a while."