Dem senator: ‘Stop pretending’ law banning separation of migrant families is hard to pass

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Thursday that Congress could easily fix the policy of separating migrant families at the border and could pass both chambers next week if proposed as stand-alone legislation.

“Stop pretending that banning the separation of children from parents is complex legislation,” Schatz tweeted Thursday. 

He also outlined how lawmakers could change the language.

“It’s ONE LINE, and it could pass ‘on suspension’ in the House on Monday, and by Unanimous Consent in the Senate on Tuesday. Attaching it to a bigger immigration bill is killing it,” Schatz wrote.

Stop pretending that banning the separation of children from parents is complex legislation. It’s ONE LINE, and it could pass “on suspension” in the House on Monday, and by Unanimous Consent in the Senate on Tuesday. Attaching it to a bigger immigration bill is killing it.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 14, 2018

President Trump blamed Democrats for the policy in a tweet last month and challenged them to come up with legislation to change it.

{mosads}Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, enacted a “zero tolerance” policy at the border last month, mandating that everyone apprehended illegally entering the U.S. will face criminal charges.

The policy is resulting in parents being separated from their children while facing legal prosecution.

Sessions defended the policy on Thursday and invoked the Bible as justification.

“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 said during a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.

Democrats and immigration advocates have been protesting the measure, saying it is inflicting unnecessary trauma on innocent children. Republicans say the policy existed long before the Trump administration started enforcing it broadly.

Schatz’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate introduced legislation last week to prevent the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the border.