Family Separations At The Border: 5 Things To Know

WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump administration is trying to evade responsibility in a widespread moral outcry about a zero-tolerance immigration policy that leads to the separation of children from parents during illegal border crossings.

Some 1,995 children were taken from their migrant parents at the border from April 19-May 31, according to Department of Homeland Security data obtained and reviewed by the Associated Press.

The means, on average, that 48 kids are ripped from their families on any given day.

The AP said the minors taken from their migrant parents are often sent to foster homes or held in detention centers.

Here are five things to know about the issue:

1. President Trump repeatedly pins the problem on Democrats, saying they passed the law that is tearing families apart.

“The Democrats forced that law upon our nation,” Trump told reporters at the White House Friday. “I hate it. I hate to see separation of parents and children. The Democrats can come to us, as they actually are in all fairness. We are talking to them, and they can change the whole border security. We need a wall. We need border security. We’ve got to get rid of catch and release.”

In fact, no such law exists.

The reason for the family separations is a zero-tolerance policy that families illegally crossing the border are automatically referred for criminal prosecution — typically meaning detention for adults pending their trials. According to the U.S. protocol, if children’s parents are in jail, they’re separated because the kids aren’t charged with a crime.

Before the policy change this spring, entire families were referred for civil deportation proceedings and separation wasn’t required.

2. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blames it on loopholes in the law.

“The separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that Democrats refuse to close and these laws are the same that have been on the books for over a decade and the president is simply enforcing them,’’ Sanders said when asked about the separations.

3. House Speaker Paul Ryan blames it on a court decision, but says legislation will fix it.

“So, what’s happening at the border in the separation of parents and their children is because of a court ruling, and that’s why I think legislation’s necessary,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “We don’t want kids to be separated from their parents. I think I just made that really clear. And we believe, because of the court ruling, this will require a legislative change.’’

Court rulings are important in the debate, but only to the extent that they establish the right of migrant children to be released from custody. They don’t establish similar rights for parents and can be used to keep the adults behind bars.

There’s no provision in Ryan’s bill that would end family separations. To do that, Trump and Sessions would have to walk back the zero-tolerance policy.

4. Attorney General Jeff Sessions justifies it by quoting Scripture, and the White House press secretary agrees that “it’s biblical to enforce the law.”

“Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions told a law enforcement group in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.”

There’s a problem with the verse Sessions chose. Romans 13 has been cited throughout history to justify and endorse injustice In fact, it was one of the most cited texts of slaveholder religion in the 1850s.

5. Even faith leaders in Trump’s base say the policy isn’t Christian.

Not surprisingly, Catholic, mainline Protestant denominations, Jews and Muslims have all condemned border policies that separate families and children, but faith leaders who have generally been friendly to Trump have condemned the policy.

The conservative, evangelical Southern Baptist Convention, then nation’s largest Protestant church, said in a resolution passed Thursday that immigration reform should maintain “the priority of family unity.” A coalition of religious and humanitarian groups pleaded with the president in a June 1 letter not to cut off paths for asylum for immigrants and refugees who are fleeing danger.

Even the Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist the Rev. Bill Graham and an avowed Trump supporter and defender, sharply rebuked immigration policies that rip apart families. "I think it's disgraceful, it's terrible to see families ripped apart and I don't support that one bit," Graham said in a Christian Broadcasting Network interview.

Photo: Border Patrol agents ask a group of Central American asylum seekers to remove hair bands and wedding rings before taking them into custody on June 12, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. The immigrant families were then sent to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing center for possible separation. U.S. border authorities are executing the Trump administration's “zero tolerance” policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants' country of origin would no longer qualify them for political asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)