Trump says he is not looking to reinstate family separation policy

WASHINGTON — Facing bipartisan pushback on his immigration shake-up, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s not looking to revive the muchcriticized practice of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. At the same time, he suggested the policy had worked to deter migrants from coming into the U.S.

Immigration experts say his policies and practices are contributing to the surge of migrants.

Last summer the administration separated more than 2,500 children from their families before international outrage forced Trump to halt the practice and a judge ordered them reunited.

“We’re not looking to do that,” Trump told reporters before meeting with Egypt’s president at the White House. But he also noted: “Once you don’t have it, that’s why you see many more people coming. They’re coming like it’s a picnic, because let’s go to Disneyland.”

The potential reinstatement of one of the most divisive practices of the Trump administration was just one aspect of the upheaval evident at the Department of Homeland Security this week following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. With talk that more top officials were likely to be pushed out, Republicans expressed public and private concerns about the shake-up orchestrated by the White House and cautioned that leadership changes wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem.

As for the separation of children, Trump declared that he was “the one that stopped it” and said his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was the one who had divided family members. The administration is allowed to separate children under certain circumstances including the health and welfare of the child and a parent’s criminal history. This is why children were separated under the Obama administration.

At hearings across Capitol Hill, lawmakers grilled administration officials on whether the practice would resurface despite last year’s outrage and evidence that separations were likely to cause lasting psychological effects on the children. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said his committee would take a look at the staff shake-up at Homeland Security. The Maryland Democrat said he was deciding whether to call in Nielsen.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said there was a serious problem going on between the White House and Homeland Security.

“If everybody’s sitting around waiting for a shiny new wonder pony to ride in and solve it, we’re going to be waiting a long time,” he said.