First lady Melania Trump appeared on Sunday to break with the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy on illegal immigrant children crossing into the United States with adult family members.
The debate over the policy has focused on approximately 2,000 children who have been separated from their parents or adult guardians and transported to either government facilities or foster care.
Resulting photos of the circumstances under which some of the minors are being housed have driven Democrats to decry the situation as ‘heartless’ and ‘immoral’ – and to call for the use of discretion that would
The first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to DailyMail.com, CNN and other outlets that ‘Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform.’
‘She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.’
First lady Melania Trump said Sunday that she wants to see an administration that ‘governs with heart,’ speaking about the unfolding crisis of illegal immigrant children being housed separately from adult guardians who are being prosecuted for jumping the U.S. border
About 2,000 minors are being housed in specialized detention centers, drawing howls of protest from immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers who oppose President Trump at every turn
A national debate has erupted over how the children are being treated, with Democrats claiming they’re being kept in cages and Republicans circulating photos like this one – showing a teddy bear on a cot in one of the shelters
While some of the holding centers are overcrowded, the Health and Human Services Department is trying to put a positive spin on a situation that the Trump administration says is an unavoidable consequence of strictly following existing immigration laws. An administration official said Sunday that the situation is no different from other criminals who are separated from their families while in jail awaiting trials
What ‘successful’ immigration reform means, however, is in the eye of the beholder.
The Justice and Homeland Security Departments are strictly applying immigration law, which treats border-jumpers as lawbreakers worthy of prosecution.
That outcome puts children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with them in the same category as children of other criminal defendants – meaning they can’t remain in custody with adults who are often their parents.
‘It’s the same as any other child who is left separated from a father or a mother who’s held in jail pending prosecution of a criminal case,’ an administration official told DailyMail.com on Sunday.
That outlook is shared by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the president.
Trump tweeted Sunday that ‘Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!’
President Trump has been blaming Democrats for refusing to go along with Republican immigration bills that would fund his border wall in exchange for legal changes in how many illegal immigrants are treated while their cases unfold
In this case, however, the children are initially housed by the Department of Health and Human Services, compared to minor citizens who are left with a single parent or referred to civilian foster care.
The official requested anonymity to speak freely, saying: ‘There’s no reason to treat any class of criminals differently than any other.’
‘If Democrats want to change the law, they can come along with Republicans. That, however, will require a longer-term solution including more border security.’
‘Border security’ is the Trump administration’s most common substitute language for the wall that Trump has promised since early in the presidential campaign.
Aside from serving as legislative leverage to secure funding for the wall, the president and Sessions have repeatedly defended their chosen method of enforcing federal law, saying it has the added benefit of deterring future border-crossers.
Protesters blocked an entrance to the headquarters of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during a protest on June 13, 2018 that included some Democratic members of Congress
Another group of protesters chanted slogans outside an ICE detention center in downtown Los Angeles on June 14, part of a push to oppose new family separation policies
The president has sometimes clumsily blamed Democrats for his policy, drawing howls of protests and claims Trump is a liar from commentators, immigration advocates and some news outlets as a whole, most notably CNN and The New York Times.
Some in the administration have openly signaled their distaste with the policy and its effects.
‘As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who’s got a conscience … I will tell you that nobody likes this policy,” Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday on ‘Meet the Press.’
She also tossed the political hot potato down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill.
‘Congress passed the law that it is a crime to enter this country illegally,’ she added. ‘So if they don’t like that law, they should change it.’
Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday on ‘Meet the Press’ that ‘nobody likes this policy,’ but ‘Congress passed the law that it is a crime to enter this country illegally. So if they don’t like that law, they should change it’
The policy of separating children from parents was sparsely applied during the Obama administration but there were cases where minors were held or referred to foster care while their parents were awaiting prosecution
Senate Democrats remain the most persistent obstacles to a deal, refusing to join Republicans in a majority large enough to break a filibuster and bring a bill to a vote.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has refused to invoke a ‘nuclear option’ that Trump favors, abolition of the filibuster, a move that would allow Republicans to pass a White House-friendly proposal by the slimmest of margins.
The president is expected to meet with the entire GOP caucus Tuesday in Congress to drive congressional Republicans toward either of two immigration bills stuck in legislative purgatory.
Melania Trump last month unveiled a White House ‘Be Best’ initiative, a children’s welfare platform focusing on ‘well-being, social media use, and opioid abuse.’