‘The United States will not be a migrant camp’
Trump digging in on immigration despite outrage
WASHINGTON — An unapologetic President Donald Trump defended his administration’s borderprotection policies Monday in the face of rising outrage over the forced separation of migrant children from their parents. Calling for tough action, Trump said the U.S. “will not be a migrant camp” on his watch.
Images of children held in fenced cages fueled a growing chorus of condemnation from both political parties, four former first ladies and national evangelical leaders.
The children are being held separately from parents being prosecuted under the “zero-tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” Trump said Monday as his administration rejected criticism that the policy has resulted in inhuman and immoral conditions.
Trump pointed to more lenient policies under past administrations that had not charged all migrants who had crossed illegally.
“We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in an appearance before the National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans. “Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards.”
Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new “zero-tolerance” policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. Prior procedure had limited prosecution for many family entrants, in part because regulations prohibit detaining children with their parents since the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.
The policy change was meant to deter unlawful crossings — and Sessions issued a warning last month to those entering the U.S. illegally that their children “inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions.”
U.S. Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee both issued statements Monday decrying the separations practice.
“While the issues surrounding our immigration system are complex, we can all agree that innocent children should be protected and not used for deterrence,” said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He also said the administration “should use all tools available to stop needless family separation without delay, and Congress should act swiftly to address the serious challenges facing our nation’s immigration system.”
Alexander said in his statement, “Illegal immigration is against the law but new enforcement policies have resulted in hundreds of children being separated from their parents. The administration should end that new policy immediately while Congress works with the president on a bipartisan immigration solution that secures the border, provides a status for those already here and prevents a humanitarian crisis at the border.”
The current holding areas have drawn widespread attention after journalists gained access to one site Sunday. At a McAllen, Texas, detention center, hundreds of immigrant children waited in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about were bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets.
Administration officials said they do not like the family separations either — calling it the result of legal loopholes — but insist migrants who arrive illegally simply won’t be released or loosely kept track of.
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump declared. “Not on my watch.”
Sessions, on Monday, echoed the administration’s defense of the zero tolerance policy, and called on Congress to act.
“We do not want to separate parents from their children,” he said. “If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won’t face these terrible choices.”
Mindful of the national outcry, lawmakers in both parties rushed Monday to devise a targeted legislative fix.
GOP senators, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine, said they were considering legislation that would keep migrant families together; provide additional judges so detained families would face shorter waiting periods; and provide facilities for the families to stay.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she had the backing of the Democratic caucus for a bill would that prohibit the separation of migrant children from their parents, with exceptions for findings of child abuse or trafficking.
But the White House signaled it would oppose any narrow fix aimed solely at addressing the plight of children separated from their parents under the immigration crackdown. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump’s priorities, such as funding a border wall and tightening immigration laws, must also be fulfilled as part of any legislation.
“We want to fix the whole thing,” she said. “We don’t want to tinker with just part of it.”
The administration is hoping to force Democrats to vote for the bills or bear some of the political cost in November’s midterm elections.
White House officials have privately embraced the border policy as a negotiating tactic to win votes for legislation to fulfill the president’s pledge to build a border wall and to tighten the nation’s immigration laws.
Trump’s commitment to the current policy showed no sign of faltering as voices of outrage and condemnation grew louder and more diverse.
In Massachusetts, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker reversed a decision to send a state National Guard helicopter to the southern border, citing what he called the administration’s “cruel and inhumane” policy of separating children from their parents.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, a longtime Trump ally, called the policy “disgraceful.” Several religious groups, including some conservative ones, pushed to stop the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. The Mormon church said it was “deeply troubled” by the separation of families and urged national leaders to find compassionate solutions.
Former first lady Laura Bush called the policy “cruel” and “immoral,” and said it was “eerily reminiscent” of the U.S. internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II.
On Capitol Hill, Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton called for an immediate end to the “ugly and inhumane practice,” adding, “It’s never acceptable to use kids as bargaining chips in political process.”