WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The immigration debate continues heating up over the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy that has led to children being separated from their parents.
- Zero-tolerance immigration policy separating families
- Protesters, leaders demanding info on child welfare at border
- Attorney says Trump has power to stop border prosecutions
Now, protesters and politicians are demanding information on the welfare of the kids and calling for changes to the policy.
“We are stuck with these horrible laws. What’s happening is so sad,” said President Donald Trump said Monday during a meeting with the National Space Council at the White House.
The president continued to place the blame on Democrats, even after his administration continues to separate families at the border.
Over the last six weeks, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents as a result of this new policy.
“There’s absolutely nothing true about the fact that he cannot top border prosecutions,” explained Leon Fresco, an immigration attorney with Holland & Knight.
“He can stop border prosecutions today that require the separation of parents and children,” he continued.
Fresco, who served as an assistant attorney general under President Obama says this is the first time in U.S. history that this country is prosecuting adults coming to the border with children.
“At least over the last few decades, what you’ve seen is that the only people that get prosecuted for illegal entry to the border are single males, or people who come across the border with drugs,” he said.
Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen doubled down on the administration’s actions.
“Until these loopholes are closed by Congress, it is not possible as a matter of law to detain and remove whole family units who arrive illegally in the United States,” Nielsen said to reporters during a late White House briefing Monday.
“Congress and the Courts created this problem, and Congress alone can fix this,” she said.
Fresco also points out this policy is not fiscally viable long-term, explaining that it’s much more expensive to separate parents and children and hold them in two different facilities.
“The statistics tell us is those facilities cost about $600 a day per child. Then you have $150 a day to house the mother,” he said. “If you had the most sophisticated electronic monitoring system that costs $15 a day, period. So you have $15 a day electronic monitoring that keeps families together, or $750 dollars a day to separate parents and children.”
Key Republicans are lining up against the separation policy, as President Trump prepares to meet with them Tuesday evening on Capitol Hill.
The meeting is significant to keep the legislation moving forward in the process because House Speaker Paul Ryan has repeatedly warned that he will not bring legislation to the floor for a vote without the President’s support.
“We have two big factors working against us,” Fresco explained. “We have the timing of the calendar, so close to an election year, and we have a trust deficit that is very hard to overcome. But, I think the concepts are there for a deal.”
No previous administration has interpreted the law as requiring the separation of parents from their children.