The emotional debate over separating immigrantparents and their children at the nation’s southern border is getting some strong comments from First ladies — past and present — who want the practice changed.
First lady Melania Trump “hates” to see families separated at the border and hopes “both sides of the aisle” can reform the nation’s immigration laws, according to a statement from her office on Sunday about the controversy.
Former First lady laura Bush called the policy “cruel” and “immoral” and said “it breaks my heart.” For both, it was an unusual entry into a fierce political debate.
Mrs Trump didn’t refer specifically to the Trump administration’s “no tolerance” policy, which was leading to a spike in children being separated from their families.
Government statistics indicate that nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May.
A spokeswoman for the wife of President Donald Trump issued the statement after several days of images of crying children appearing on television and online.
While the statement suggested the matter was an issue for Congress, Democratic lawmakers and others have pointed out that no law mandates the separation of children and parents at the border.
A new Trump administration policy, which went into effect in May, sought to maximize criminal prosecutions of people caught trying to enter the US illegally. More adults were being jailed as a result, which led to their children being separated from them.
laura Bush was writing a guest column for The Washington Post on Sunday and compared the policy to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel,” she wrote.