BORDER/CHILDREN/DEMS/GOP/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Family separations at the border have become a political football. Lawmakers and party leaders in Congress are increasingly fighting over how best to address the issue — blaming each other for the heart-wrenching situation. House Speaker Paul Ryan argued Thursday [6-14-18] that Congress should step up and resolve the problem with a legislative fix, while the top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said the onus is on the Trump administration to simply reverse its policy that spurred the situation. The Trump administration recently started implementing a policy of prosecuting all adults caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. Once the adults are referred to the criminal justice system, any children with them are taken into government custody, essentially becoming ‘unaccompanied minors.’ Republicans are blaming a longstanding court ruling and subsequent court settlement that governs how children can be treated in detention. The settlement means that children can’t be detained longer than a few days to a few weeks, depending on certain factors. Previously, the administration would thus release families together under monitoring. The Trump administration is opting in certain cases to release only the children.”
-Ashley Killough and Tal Kopan, “Lawmakers disagree over how to solve family separation at the border,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 14, 2018 2:47 pm