President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with congressional Republicans on Tuesday as the controversy over the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy continued to heat up.
Adults caught crossing the border without using a legal port of entry are facing criminal charges, but the children are not and many are sent to Health and Human Services facilities. Through the end of May, almost 2,000 children were separated from adults who said they were their parents or guardians, the department said last week.
Footage of children in detention – and audio of children crying as they were separated from the families – have fueled global outrage. Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have been unapologetic, saying illegal entry must be stopped and suggesting that migrants seeking to enter the country illegally have in the past brought children with them to avoid criminal charges.
Recording of kids crying for parents released
A 7-minute audio tape of children crying out at a detention center after being separated from their parents was released Monday by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom. Some of the children are heard crying "Mami" or "Papá." Others plead to know when their aunt or parent will come to pick them up. One child can be heard repeatedly crying for "daddy," over and over. Attendants offer children food. One Border Patrol agent says, "Well, we have an orchestra here. What’s missing is a conductor.”
McCain calls policy 'an affront to deceny'
U.S. Sen. John McCain condemned the Trump administration’s practice of separating families in a sharp statement Monday, reflecting a break within Republican ranks on the controversial policy. "The administration’s current family separation policy is an affront to the decency of the American people, and contrary to principles and values upon which our nation was founded,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in a blistering tweet Monday evening. “The administration has the power to rescind this policy. It should do so now.”
Trump, Sessions, Nielsen stand firm
"We have to do our job. We will not apologize for doing our job," Nielsen said Monday. "This administration has a simple message — If you cross the border illegally, we will prosecute you." Trump said immigration changes could be accomplished "very quickly" if Democrats would negotiate in good faith: "Good for the children, good for the country, good for the world. It could take place quickly." Sessions said the administration must prosecute adults who "flout our laws" to come here illegally instead of waiting their turn or claiming asylum at any port of entry. "We cannot and will not encourage people to bring children by giving them blanket immunity from our laws," he said.
DHS chief draw Democratic fire
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, ripped Nielsen’s recent efforts to defend the "horrific child separation policy."
“Secretary Nielsen must be aware that she now owns the implementation of child separation and is fully complicit," Thompson said. "Any notion that Congress can come together and reform our immigration system and fix every issue overnight is laughable with the current GOP Leadership - and the administration knows this.”
States won't send National Guard to border
At least three Democratic governors are backing off plans to provide National Guard troops to help secure the border. Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said they will provide no troops. "In the face of this ongoing human tragedy, let me be very clear: New York will not be party to this inhumane treatment of immigrant families," Cuomo said in a statement. "We will not deploy National Guard to the border, and we will not be complicit in a political agenda that governs by fear and division." Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, another Democrat who previously had said he might send troops, signed an executive order "that keeps Colorado from using state resources to separate children from their parents or legal guardians."
Contributing: Carolyn McAtee Cerbin, USA TODAY; Ronald J. Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic