First Lady Melania Trump issued a statement on the separation of children from parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, calling on “both sides of the aisle” to work together on immigration reform in a statement that does not directly address her husband, President Donald Trump.
“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle achieve successful immigration reform,” Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s spokeswoman, said in a statement to reporters. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but governs with heart.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
NEW: Statement from @FLOTUS spokeswoman @StephGrisham45 to me regarding what’s happening to kids at our borders: pic.twitter.com/fpsfHJSOTa
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) June 17, 2018
The statement was issued on Father’s Day. Notably, Trump did not mention her husband or family on her social media accounts.
President Trump’s administration has been under scrutiny in recent weeks after instituting a policy that separates immigrants coming to the county illegally from their children. According to CBS News, it is part of a “zero tolerance” policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions two months ago, in which immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally will face criminal prosecution and are immediately taken into custody. Since U.S. policy bars children from being detained with their parents since they are not charged with a crime, they have been separated from their parents.
Trump has blamed the situation on Democrats and falsely claimed there is a federal law forcing parents and children to be separated when they cross the border. Where Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush declined to prosecute adults with minor children, The New York Times reports that Trump advisors, including Stephen Miller, pushed for Trump to make fewer exceptions.
“I hate the children being taken away,” President Trump said Friday. “The Democrats have to change their law — that’s their law.”
During the Sunday talk shows, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway and attorney Rudy Giuliani made similar comments. Conway told NBC’s Meet the Press that “nobody likes” splitting up families and Giuliani told CBS’ Face the Nation that the he and the president do not “like to see children taken away from their parents.”
Meanwhile, House Republicans have put together two immigration bills – a hard-right proposal and one that is a compromise between conservative and moderate Republicans. On Friday, President Trump told Fox & Friends he would not sign the moderate one. But an official told CBS News the president misspoke and the White House put out a statement endorsing both bills.
“The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda,” the president tweeted on Friday, again blaming Democrats. “Any Immigration Bill MUST HAVE full funding for the Wall, end Catch & Release, Visa Lottery and Chain, and go to Merit Based Immigration. Go for it! WIN!”
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families and put into shelters between April 19 and May 31.
