Reuters
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau appeared on Sunday to criticize the Trump administration's new policy of prosecuting immigrants who cross the southern US border illegally - an action that would inevitably separate children from their families.
Favreau tweeted a picture of immigrant children being held in what looked like a cage at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Arizona.
"This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible," Favreau wrote in the tweet.
But he deleted the tweet after The Daily Caller found that the picture was from an AZCentral.com story from 2014.
Favreau's tweet came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in early May that the US would refer "100 percent of illegal Southwest Border crossings to the Department of Justice for prosecution," adding "If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law."
The issue gained new momentum in recent days when it was reported that the US Health and Human Services Administration lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children who had been placed with American sponsors after they arrived in the US illegally.
While Favreau may have bungled the tweet, there have been widespread allegations of mistreatment and poor conditions at immigration detention centers across the US for years, which have sparked riots, hunger strikes and more.
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