Washington - US President Donald Trump
said on Monday he would not allow the United States to become a
"migrant camp" as his administration faced a barrage of
criticism for separating immigrant children from their parents
at the US-Mexico border.
Democrats and some in Trump's own Republican Party have
blasted the administration for separating nearly 2,000 children
from their parents at the border between mid-April and the end
of May. Medical professionals have said the practice could cause
lasting trauma to children.
The family separations are the result of the
administration's "zero tolerance" policy that arrests all adults
who are caught trying to enter the United States illegally,
including those seeking asylum.
While parents are held in jail, their children are sent to
separate detention facilities. Video footage released by the
government showed migrant children held in wire cages, sitting
on concrete floors.
Trump, who has made a tough stance on immigration a major
goal of his presidency, responded sharply to critics on Monday.
"The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will
not be a refugee holding facility. It won't be. You look at
what's happening in Europe, you look at what's happening in
other places - we can't allow that to happen to the United
States, not on my watch," Trump said. He was speaking at the
White House while announcing an unrelated policy.
Trump has sought to use the widespread outrage over the
family separations to push through other immigration priorities
that have stalled in Congress, such as funding for his
long-promised wall along the Mexican border.
He has consistently blamed Democrats for the impasse, even
though his fellow Republicans control both chambers in Congress.
Democrats have accused the president of using children as
hostages in the political dispute over immigration.
“This was done by the president, not Democrats. He can fix
it tomorrow if he wants to, and if he doesn’t want to, he should
own up to the fact that he’s doing it," Senate Democratic Leader
Chuck Schumer said in a prepared statement.
Earlier, Trump said on Twitter that people should be wary of
what he called the cultural change caused by migrants in Europe.
He cited immigration for causing political instability in
Germany and said inaccurately that crime in Germany was "way
up."
"Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of
people in who have so strongly and violently changed their
culture!" he tweeted.
The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the way migrant
children are being treated. "They're not put in jail, of course.
They're taken care of," he said at the National Sheriffs'
Association convention in New Orleans on Monday.
Trump administration officials say the zero-tolerance
policy, which was not practiced by the two previous
administrations, is necessary to secure the border and deter
illegal immigration, but they are facing a growing chorus of
criticism from their Republican allies.
"Why we would even think that this is a tool that is needed
to defend our borders is insane," Republican Representative Will
Hurd, who represents a Texas district along the border, told
National Public Radio.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres weighed
in, saying refugee and migrant "children must not be traumatised
by being separated from their parents." In Geneva, the top UN human rights official called on the Trump administration to halt
its "unconscionable" policy of forcibly separating children from
migrant parents.
Trump was due to meet with Republicans in the House of
Representatives on Tuesday as they prepared to vote on two
immigration bills.
One would end the separation policy, fund the border wall
and give legal protections to some immigrants who entered the
country as children. Details were still in flux.
The bill faces strong headwinds as it is opposed by
Democrats, who object to another provision that would cut legal
immigration levels, and conservative Republicans who are backing
a rival bill that takes a harder line on immigration.
Trump again blamed Democrats for the family separations on
Monday, tweeting, "It is the Democrats (sic) fault for being
weak and ineffective with Boarder (sic) Security and Crime."
His tweet about Germany referred to a political dispute over
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy that
is threatening her governing coalition.
More than 1.6 million migrants, mostly Muslims fleeing wars
in the Middle East, have arrived in Germany since 2014.
Contrary to Trump's assertion, the crime rate in Germany is at
its lowest point in more than 30 years, according to figures
reported by the country's internal ministry last month.
Illustrating the wide concern in the United States over the
family separations, Laura Bush, married to the last Republican
president before Trump, took the highly unusual step of
publishing an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday,
Father's Day.
She wrote, "this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is
immoral. And it breaks my heart."