John Legend had some harsh words for Paul Ryan on Father’s Day as the Republican immigration policy continues to separate children from their parents.
Ryan, the Republican majority leader and Speaker of the House, posted a video on Twitter on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day. It featured footage of himself speaking about fatherhood interspersed with photos of his family.
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My life changed the day I became a father. Liza, Charlie, and Sam are my highest priority. Wishing all of the dads out there a happy early #FathersDay pic.twitter.com/w3UsSkR4Lf
โ Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 16, 2018
“My life changed the day I became a father. Liza, Charlie, and Sam are my highest priority. Wishing all of the dads out there a happy early [Father’s Day],” Ryan wrote.
For Legend, the message was in poor taste, considering the Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy, which has already separated at least 2,000 children from their parents at the border, according to a report by CNN.
Under the new policy, ICE agents are detaining illegal immigrant parents in federal jails and bringing their children to temporary facilities controlled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Seriously, fuck you. Reunite the families at the border and we can talk about father’s day. https://t.co/bbG0gVqfzq
โ John Legend (@johnlegend) June 16, 2018
“Seriously, fโ you,” Legend replied publicly to Ryan. “Reunite the families at the border and we can talk about father’s day.”
Legend’s tweet has received over 275,000 likes and 75,000 retweets at the time of this writing. The zero tolerance policy has caused a massive outrage in the news and on social media, where it is being described as a human rights violation on the level of Japanese-American internment during World War II.
The zero tolerance policy was put in place and announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and is more or less considered a product of the Trump Administration. Despite Ryan’s position of power and influence, he suggested that the policy should stay in place until Congress could agree on a permanent legislative solution.
“I do think it ought to be addressed,” he said in a press conference, according to CNN. “We believe it should be addressed in immigration legislation. We don’t want kids to be separated from their parents.”
This infuriated opponents of the policy, including Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Polosi, who said that the Trump administration should first and foremost reverse the new rules. She said that lawmakers move too slow, and any immigration reform will undoubtedly get stalled by the legislative process, while more and more parents are tricked into giving up their kids.
“What do we do here? We do nothing,” Pelosi said. “It’s a horrible thing and I don’t see any prospect for legislation here.”
Addressing the issue again later in the day, Legend retweeted author Saladin Ahmed’s take on the policy.
“If you think stealing someone’s baby is a reasonable response to them crossing an imaginary line on the ground you are either brainwashed or a horrible person,” he wrote.
if you think stealing someoneโs baby is a reasonable response to them crossing an imaginary line on the ground you are either brainwashed or a horrible person
โ Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) June 16, 2018
Please follow my work on ending money bail, ending mass incarceration, ending juvenile incarceration #KeepFamiliesTogether https://t.co/hcXPSjETfR
โ John Legend (@johnlegend) June 17, 2018
When asked by a fan what he was doing to counter the family separation policy, Legend wrote: “Please follow my work on ending money bail, ending mass incarceration, ending juvenile incarceration.”
Join me and @NationalBailOut this Father’s Day in our fight to reunite our nation’s families and end the injustices committed by the money bail system. pic.twitter.com/7AvxO6mztf
โ John Legend (@johnlegend) June 15, 2018
Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, urged their fans and followers this week to donate to the ACLU in the hopes of helping to reunite separated families.
happy birthday, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/BWEgRAcdPX
โ christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 14, 2018