McCain rips child policy; many GOP officials mum
U.S. Sen. John McCain condemned the Trump administration’s practice of separating families in a sharp statement on Monday, reflecting a break within Republican ranks on the controversial policy.
Four of Arizona’s five GOP House members have avoided public comments on the “zero tolerance” crackdown at the border that has resulted in an estimated 2,000 children being separated from their families.
By contrast, all four of the state’s U.S. House Democrats have pilloried the practice in recent days.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also hinted at his dismay in questions about the policy he put to the Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
“The administration’s current family separation policy is an affront to the decency of the American people, and contrary to principles and values upon which our nation was founded,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in a blistering tweet Monday evening. “The administration has the power to rescind this policy. It should do so now.”
The family separations have sparked a national outcry and emerged as a searing test of how far Americans are willing to go in their efforts to enforce immigration and border control.
The White House itself has offered conflicting accounts of the policy and the reasons behind it. Officials have alternately — and falsely — blamed Democrats for it, denied there is a separation policy or suggested the policy is intended as a deterrent to reduce illegal immigration.
As the administration founders, congressional Republicans in Arizona and elsewhere have done what they have often done in other high-profile spasms of controversies involving President Donald Trump: They waited.
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., followed a cheery note Sunday wishing everyone a happy Father’s Day with a fiery message on Monday.
“The Obama Admin’s lack of enforcement of our immigration laws is responsible for this crisis,” he said in a tweet. “The (Justice Department’s) zero-tolerance policy returns to the rule of law & ensures families are no longer lured to our borders with false promises. Elections matter.”
As of late Monday, Reps. Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko, Martha McSally and David Schweikert still had not issued public comments via social media.
McSally represents a portion of southern Arizona, including borderlands. She chairs a border-related subcommittee and is running for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate. She has staked out more hard-line immigration positions since entering the race.
By contrast, McCain and Flake are Republicans who have cast themselves as the conscience of their party as their congressional careers wind down. McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer; Flake is not seeking re-election this year.
“Ensuring the safety and security of young children is a longstanding priority of the American legal system,” Flake said. “In asylum cases, it is especially important to keep families together when neither the child nor the parent has violated any laws. Contrary to what (Homeland Security) has indicated as proper procedure, we are currently seeing cases where immigrant families seeking asylum are separated after lawfully presenting themselves at a U.S. port of entry. I believe DHS ought to respond to valid questions concerning asylum processing, including any policies pertaining to the separation of families.”
He posed a series of questions for Nielsen that outlined his concerns.
As the separation story gathered steam last week, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., repeatedly hammered the White House for its actions. He elaborated in a statement Monday.
“As children are ripped from their parents’ arms, and mass trials and gross violations of due process permeate the border region, Trump and his henchmen continue their macabre public relations tour to justify their abhorrent policies that attack asylum seekers and innocent children,” Grijalva said. “In the process, Trump has reached a disgusting new low by using asylum seekers and their children as leverage to get his border wall.
“Current anti-immigrant legislation like the Goodlatte/McSally bill and the Republican ‘compromise’ have nothing to do with the refugee crisis at the southern border. By holding the children seeking asylum hostage, Trump and his baby snatchers are lying to the American people.”
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., didn’t mince words.
“The Trump administration is cruelly and needlessly taking children away from their parents and ripping families apart,” he said in a tweet last week. “As fathers, we can’t stand quiet while they destroy American values.”
U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., was measured in his condemnation.
“While we need to enforce our laws & protect our border, there is no reason to pull young children away from their parents & put them into a system they don’t understand,” he said. “This policy does nothing to solve the issues our border states are facing.”
U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, also weighed in Monday.
“The administration’s choice to separate families at the border is wrong — they should stop immediately. I’m ready to work with anyone to fix our broken immigration system, secure our border, & protect our communities,” she wrote in a tweet.