Trump officials keep contradicting each other trying to explain why they are separating screaming children from their parents at the border
- The Trump administration can't get its story straight when it comes to its new "zero-tolerance" policy that has separated thousands of migrant families.
- Some in the Trump administration have denied that the family separation policy exists. Others have said it exists, and acts as a deterrent.
- As critics have pointed out, the differing explanations contradict one another.
As controversy rages over the Trump administration's family separation tactic, a number of different government officials have contradicted one another in explaining what exactly is going on with migrant families at the border - and why.
The Trump administration recently implemented its new "zero-tolerance" policy, which criminally prosecutes migrants who illegally cross the US-Mexico border and separates them from their children.
While some officials have proudly owned up to the policy and argued that it's necessary to deter illegal immigration, others have shied away from describing family separation as a policy.
As critics have pointed out, not all of these explanations add up. Officials are simultaneously denying that a family separation policy exists, and arguing that it's a deterrent for illegal immigration.
Here's what several different Trump administration officials have said about the policy:
It's a deterrent
"It could be a tough deterrent - would be a tough deterrent. A much faster turnaround on asylum-seekers," he said, brushing aside concerns that it could be cruel for children to have to leave their parents.
"The children will be taken care of - put into foster care or whatever," he added. "But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States, and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long."
President Donald Trump's senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, has taken a similar approach. He told The New York Times this week that the previous practice of releasing migrants seeking asylum into the US while their cases were pending acted as an incentive for illegal immigration.
"It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero-tolerance policy for illegal entry, period," he said. "The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law."
It's in the Bible
The Trump administration has had to contend with growing backlash from a key part of Trump's base - evangelical Christians.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the policy to his "church friends" last week (his words), citing the Bible's guidance to obey the government's laws, though there is no US law requiring the separation of migrant families.
"I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes," Sessions said.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, also cited the Bible when defending the zero-tolerance policy at a press briefing last week.
"I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible," she said.
It's the Democrats' fault
Trump himself has taken to the media and to Twitter to repeatedly blame Democrats for the policy, falsely saying that his administration is merely "following laws" that Democrats created.
"I hate the children being taken away," Trump told reporters last week. "The Democrats gave us the laws. Now, I want the laws to be beautiful, humane, but strong. I don't want bad people coming in."
As numerous critics have pointed out, there is no law requiring family separation. The Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy is just that: a policy.
Though the Trump administration has cited several "loopholes" in the law that they wish to close as a means to stop illegal immigration - and therefore remove the need for a zero-tolerance policy - none of those laws themselves mandate separating families.
There is no family separation policy
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen held a combative press briefing at the White House on Monday, stunning reporters when she denied that the Trump administration created a family separation policy, and saying that it was "offensive" for reporters to suggest that it had.
"Why would I ever create a policy that purposely does that?" Nielsen said. "This administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border."