Trump blames Dems for children’s deaths

President cites incidents as reason to build a wall

President Donald Trump blamed Democrats on Saturday for the deaths of two migrant children in detention at the southwest border this month, wielding the episodes as justification to fund a border wall.

The comments came in twin posts on Twitter, where the president spent much of the day denouncing Democrats as the partial government shutdown approached its eighth day over his demand for funding for the wall.

“Any deaths of children or others at the border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally,” he wrote in one message, his first public remarks about the deaths. “They can’t. If we had a wall, they wouldn’t even try!”

On Christmas Eve, a boy, 8, identified as Felipe Gomez Alonzo, died in U.S. custody. Authorities said he had been taken to a hospital after showing what appeared to be signs of sickness. He was released but was taken again to the hospital, where employees were unable to revive him after he had fainted. Nearly three weeks earlier, Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, died after she had been taken to a Border Patrol station.

Both children had been detained with their fathers after being apprehended at the border.

In pointing to Democrats and their immigration policies, the president overtly injected politics into the children’s deaths and mischaracterized the reasons cited for them, as well as their families’ reactions.

“The two children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol,” the president said. “The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!”

Many of the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death remain unknown. It is not clear whether his health deteriorated because of the journey to the United States, neglect by personnel in the various border facilities he was moved to or a combination of those factors.

Border Patrol said Jakelin had not eaten or consumed water for several days before being detained, but her father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cruz, disputed that statement.

The president abruptly torpedoed a temporary spending deal last week to avert the shutdown after complaints from some of his most conservative backers in Congress, and instead demanded additional funding for the wall.

The president dug in further Saturday, claiming: “For those that naively ask why didn’t the Republicans get approval to build the wall over the last year, it is because IN THE SENATE WE NEED 10 DEMOCRAT VOTES, and they will gives us ‘NONE’ for Border Security! Now we have to do it the hard way, with a shutdown. Too bad!”

Democrats have repeatedly indicated that they would support substantial funding increases for security at the southern border with Mexico. Many voted to do so in 2013 as part of a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration overhaul. But they view a wall like the one Trump advocates as an ineffective and costly response to an immigration system in disrepair.

Lawmakers in the party have offered Trump $1.3 billion for border security. Democratic leaders say they see little incentive to negotiate with the president after he repeatedly reversed himself on border funding, or to allocate more than $1.3 billion since the administration has spent only a small fraction of the money Congress approved last year for barriers along the border.

White House officials say the president feels good about his stance on the shutdown, and sees no urgency toward making a deal.