FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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President Trump Signs Executive Order To End Separation of Families at the Border

June 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order this afternoon putting an end to the policy that separated parents and children who had illegally entered the United States across the southern border.

Speaking with a group of Republican Congressmen and other officials at the White House, Trump said, “[W]e want to keep families together. It’s very important. I don’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.” Pointing to pictures of children separated from their parents, which have been plastered all over the media, he stated that “they’d affect everybody,” but acknowledged that he was torn. “We want the heart,” he said, “but we also want strong borders and we want no crime,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

President Trump described his action as “somewhat preemptive,” emphasizing that it would “be matched by legislation.” He also announced that he is cancelling the annual Congressional picnic scheduled for tomorrow, because “it didn’t feel right” to hold it at a time when this issue remained so unsettled. The Executive Order will allow children to stay in detention with their parents for an extended period of time.

In comments to the press from the White House, Trump underscored that the immigration problem

“has been going on for 50 years, longer. This has been going on under President Obama, under President [George W.] Bush. This has been going on for many, many years. We’ll see if we can solve it. This is not something that happened just now.”

Trump also stressed that Democratic support is needed to pass legislation to deal with the problem, especially in the Senate.