Republicans on defensive, but Trump digs in on separating parents and children at border
Facing a rising tide of outrage from Democrats and some Republicans over the forced separation of migrant children and parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump dug in Monday, again falsely blaming Democrats in the escalating political crisis while his Department of Homeland Security forcefully defended the practice.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused Monday to apologize for enforcing immigration laws that result in the separation of children from their parents at the National Sheriffs' Association in New Orleans Monday.
Nielsen rejected criticism accusing DHS of inhuman and immoral actions.
Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. U.S. protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents because the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.
Jeff Sessions said the goal of separation was to punish and deter people from crossing illegally.
The U.S. has been confronting an increase in illegal crossing attempts so far this year, but the levels are still far off those from the late 1980s until the early 2000s.
The zero-tolerance announcement came just days after Trump himself touted statistics released by Customs and Border Enforcement showing that illegal crossings in 2017 had fallen to historic lows.
Some of U.S. President Trump’s traditional base of support in the Christian community, including evangelicals, is outraged that his immigration policy is separating kids from parents.
UN repeats condemnation, calling it 'unconscionable'
Schiff said the practice was "deeply unethical" and that Republicans' refusal to criticize Trump represented a "sad degeneration" of the GOP, which he said had become "the party of lies."
