Here is audio, obtained by ProPublica, of children who have been separated from their parents at the border.
About 2,000 children have been separated from their parents under the federal government’s “zero tolerance” policy.
The crisis at the border has prompted widespread outrage, including denunciations from a number of Republicans. But “President Trump has shown little indication that he’ll climb down from the zero-tolerance border policy that’s separating thousands of children from their parents,” Axios reports, citing West Wing sources.
Senator Ted Cruz introduced emergency legislation to keep immigrant families together at the border. House Republican leaders are also reworking a “compromise” immigration bill to include a provision that would hold children in the same place as their parents if they are detained, according to NPR. However, that bill does not end the “zero tolerance” policy and it would not end child detentions.
Not everyone is outraged. A Quinnipiac University poll found that while 66 percent of voters said they oppose the policy, nearly 55 percent of Republicans support it.
On Tuesday, while defending the policy, the president doubled down on the false claims that crime in Germany, another country where migration policy is controversial, has increased. Per PolitiFact:
Crime in Germany is down from 2016 by over 9 percent, and since 2012 by about 4 percent. The numbers don’t link a rise in the number of immigrants to a rise in criminality.
How are you feeling about the situation? We’ll be taking your calls during this show, at (855) 236-1212. You can also use the VoxPop app to send us your thoughts.
*Text by Gabrielle Healy, show produced by Paige Osburn*
GUESTS
Dara Lind, Senior immigration reporter for Vox; @Dlind
Professor Erika Lee, Director, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota; author, “The Making of Asian America”
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