Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., got emotional as he made a plea Tuesday to the Trump administration and Republicans to put a stop to the zero tolerance policy on illegal border crossings resulting in family separations.
In fits of shouts during a hearing dedicated to the Justice Department inspector general report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton emails investigation, Cummings, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, condemned what he called “child internment camps.”
He also called on Republicans to “stand up to” Trump and stated that “we do not need legislation” to fix the issue.
Rep. Elijah Cummings makes emotional plea to stop policy “which is now resulting in child internment camps.”
“I’m talking directly to my Republican colleagues—we need you to stand up to President Trump.” https://t.co/Er2RiNiHzP pic.twitter.com/LxN2Fvz5Qa
— ABC News (@ABC) June 19, 2018
“Look, even if you believe people entered our country illegally, even if you believe they have no valid asylum claims in their own country, even if you believe immigration should be halted entirely — we all should be able to agree that in the United States of America, we will not intentionally separate children from their parents,” he said. “We will not do that. We are better than that! We are so much better!”
Trump is expected to meet Tuesday with the entire Republican caucus on Capitol Hill to push for the passing of two immigration bills in the coming days as his administration has vigorous defended its actions.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday defended the Trump administration’s zero tolerance border policy and said opponents of that policy are purposefully mischaracterizing it by saying family separations at the border are becoming a crisis.
Trump has placed the onus on the Democrats for the illegal immigration situation that has grabbed headlines in recent weeks, calling them “the problem” in a tweet Tuesday.
“Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration. Get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have strong border security,” he said in another tweet.
