First ladies decry separating families
All four former first ladies have joined the current one, Melania Trump, in an unusual united political front expressing horror at children separated from their parents at the U.S.Mexico border.
As Michelle Obama put it on Twitter, in support of Laura Bush: “Sometimes truth transcends party.”
Mrs. Obama, a Democrat, wrote those words as she retweeted Mrs. Bush, a Republican, who first spoke out in an opinion piece Sunday in The Washington Post.
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” Mrs. Bush said on Twitter as she shared her column.
Hillary Clinton, speaking at a women’s event in New York, said the Trump administration’s “zero toler- ance” policy that has separated children and parents at the southern border was a “moral and humanitarian crisis.”
Their outrage and call for reforms come after nearly 2,000 minors were separated from adults in the six weeks following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement of the zerotolerance approach to illegal border crossings.
In perhaps the most surprising response from a first lady, a statement from Mrs. Trump’s office said she “hates” to see families separated at the border. Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said Sunday, “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”
But the statement didn’t reference the “no-tolerance” policy and instead said Mrs. Trump hoped “both sides of the aisle” can change immigration laws.
The senior among the first ladies, Rosalynn Carter, spoke through The Carter Center: “The practice and policy today of removing children from their parents’ care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country.”