Northam Pulls National Guard From Border Over Family Separations

RICHMOND, VA — As controversy roils over the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy for immigrants that has separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has condemned the practice and recalled the state's National Guard crews assisting in the Southwest. Northam is the latest governor to bring Guard members home over the disagreement over how immigrants, some seeking asylum from gangs and violence, are treated.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, ordered his state's National Guard crews home earlier on Tuesday. Hogan also criticized both the Trump Administration and Congress for failing to adopt immigration reform and urged both to work together on the issue.

Northam, a Democrat, ordered the recall of four Virginia National Guard Soldiers and one helicopter from the Southwest border in response to the federal government’s enforcement of a “zero-tolerance” policy that separates immigrant children from their families. He also urged President Trump and Congressional leaders to find a compromise and enact immigration reform.

“Virginia benefits from the important work of securing our border and we have a responsibility to contribute to that mission. However, we also have a responsibility to stand up to policies or actions that run afoul of the values that define us as Americans," Northam said in a statement.

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“When Virginia deployed these resources to the border, we expected that they would play a role in preventing criminals, drug runners and other threats to our security from crossing into the United States — not supporting a policy of arresting families and separating children from their parents," the governor said. "Let me be clear — we are ready to return and contribute to the real work of keeping our nation safe. But as long as the Trump administration continues to enforce this inhumane policy, Virginia will not devote any resource to border enforcement actions that could actively or tacitly support it.”

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen joined a delegation of seven other Congressional Democrats who went to the border region of Texas over the weekend to visit with children he said have been "ripped apart by the Trump Administration's cruel new policy that separates children from their parents."

At the Port Isabel Detention Center Van Hollen said he "heard gut-wrenching testimony from ten women who fled extreme violence in Honduras only to have their children taken away from them. It was definitely one of the most emotional moments of the trip."

One lawmaker in the group estimated that there were 100 children under the age of 6 at the Port Isabel facility. Immigrants are being kept in cells surrounded by tall metal fencing inside a building that looked like a warehouse divided into cage-like structures housing different groups, The Washington Post reports. Those being held are sorted into groups — unaccompanied boys 17 and under; unaccompanied girls 17 and under; male heads of household with their families; and female heads of household with their families.

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

President Trump repeatedly pins the problem on Democrats, saying they passed the law that is tearing families apart. 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. Administration officials have said the policy change is aimed at deterring families from fleeing to the U.S. border.

Photo courtesy of Gov. Ralph Northam's office