Trump: Dems ‘can’t get their act together’ to protect migrant families

President Trump on Tuesday ripped Democrats, saying they have been unable to “get their act together” to protect migrant families and blaming them for policies that separate families at the border. 

{mosads}

“Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall,” Trump said in a tweet. 

Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018 

The policy the president is referring to was announced in May by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It permits the prosecution of adults separately from children when families seek asylum at the U.S. border.

The underlying law was adopted in 1986. The separated children are placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a branch of the Health and Human Services Department, while the accompanying adults are processed. More than 650 children were separated in one two-week stretch of May alone.

Democratic lawmakers have railed against the policy, calling it indecent and inhumane. 

“This practice is antithetical not only to American values but to basic decency and humanity,” House Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. 

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) was barred from entering an immigration detention facility in Texas on Sunday after he said he requested to meet with immigrant families waiting on asylum applications in the U.S.

“The reason why I came is this new policy that the attorney general has in place of families that are waiting for the adjudication of their application for asylum in the U.S., and the children are being separated,” Merkley said. 

The language in the president’s Tuesday tweet echoes a call from the president last month when he blamed Democrats for inaction on immigration policy and called for an end to the policy of separating immigrant families at the border for legal prosecution. 

“Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS,” he said in a May tweet. 

Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018