BORDER/HHS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House on Tuesday [5-29-18] cited a combination of court rulings and laws as the underpinning for its policy to separate immigrant children from their parents, and looked to shift the responsibility to Democrats in Congress. The Trump administration has come under criticism for its policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border, reversing a previous practice that families who cross the border seeking asylum were often released together into the U.S. while their cases are pursued. At the same time, Health and Human Services officials are under scrutiny concerning the treatment of unaccompanied minors who seek to enter the U.S. Senior administration officials said Tuesday in a call with reporters that they believed adults including gang members and smugglers were using ‘loopholes’ in the existing immigration system to exploit children, and that Congress should change the system if lawmakers didn’t like it. The ‘loopholes’ cited by administration officials for incentivizing adults to bring children across the border include a court settlement barring detention of children, a statute preventing fast deportation of certain unaccompanied children arriving at the border and a broader body of law involving asylum.”
-Louise Radnofsky and Laura Meckler, “Trump Administration Defends Its Immigration Policies,” The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2018 4:52 pm