Sen. Ben Sasse on Monday accused the Trump administration of using the separation of illegal immigrant families as leverage in immigration talks with Democrats.
“There are many senior folks in the administration who hate this policy, and who want to do something better,” the Nebraska Republican wrote on Facebook. “But some in the administration have decided that this cruel policy increases their legislative leverage. This is wrong. Americans do not take children hostage, period.”
Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that nearly 2,000 children of illegal immigrants had been apprehended and taken from their families while trying to cross the border. Monday morning, the Washington Examiner reported that number could be up to 30,000 by August.
The Trump administration has said federal law requires immigrant children to be separated from their families when they cross into the U.S. outside of a border checkpoint, since officials aren’t allowed to detain children for long. President Trump has also blamed Democrats for failing to negotiate a broad immigration deal with Republicans, one that would boost border security and provide certainty for Dreamers.
“Why don’t the Democrats give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws? Where is the outcry for the killings and crime being caused by gangs and thugs, including MS-13, coming into our country illegally?” Trump tweeted Monday.
But Sasse argued on Facebook that Trump can change the border separation policy while waiting for a bill, and said the “horrors of family separation” shouldn’t be “used as leverage for a broader debate.”
“Anyone saying that their hands are tied or that the only conceivable way to fix the problem of catch-and-release is to rip families apart is flat wrong. There are other options available to them,” wrote Sasse, although he acknowledged those options might be technically difficult to pull off. “The other options are all messy (given that some overly prescriptive judges have limited their administrative options), but there are ways to address this that are less bad than the policy of family separation they’ve chosen.”
Sasse said he’s currently working towards what he called a “possible solution” to the matter, along with Oklahoma senator James Lankford.
