Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
May 26, 2018
President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that Democrats were responsible for the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border, a policy set by his administration.
In a morning tweet, the president wrote that he wants to, “Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there (sic) parents once they cross the Border into the U.S.”
Though there is no law that mandates separation of children from their parents, he may have been referring to the 1997 Flores settlement agreement, reached in connection with a suit against the federal government. Under the terms of the settlement, migrant children cannot be held in jail. Until recently, the result was that families who cross the border seeking asylum were often released into the U.S. while their cases are pursued.
The White House didn’t reply to a request for clarification as to why Mr. Trump said Democrats were responsible for the family separation policy.
The Trump administration believes this situation encouraged people to come to the U.S. illegally.
This month, the administration announced that it would prosecute all adults, including parents, who cross illegally. Children with them are being transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, which finds placements for them, often with relatives in the U.S.
The Trump administration has asked lawmakers to overturn the Flores settlement through legislation, one on a long list of changes it seeks on immigration policy. The GOP-controlled Congress hasn’t passed legislation that would do this.
Meanwhile, the administration has come under criticism for its family separation policy. “Even in the shameful internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the US Government didn’t rip families apart,” Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe said in a tweet Saturday.
In response to such criticism, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, testifying before the Senate, blamed the parents for coming to the U.S. without authorization in the first place.
“Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go,” Mr. Trump added in his tweet Saturday, “and we MUST continue building the WALL!”
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