BORDER/CHILDREN/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Leading figures of both parties demanded on Sunday [6-17-18] that President Trump halt his administration’s practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, as the issue further polarized the already divisive immigration debate in Washington. Republican lawmakers, the former first lady Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper and a onetime adviser to Mr. Trump joined Democrats in condemning family separations that have removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The administration argued that it was just enforcing the law, a false assertion that Mr. Trump has made repeatedly. The issue took on special resonance on Father’s Day as Democratic lawmakers visited detention facilities in Texas and New Jersey to protest the separations and the House prepared to take up immigration legislation this week. Pictures of children warehoused without their parents in facilities, including a converted Walmart store, have inflamed passions and put the administration on the defensive. Mr. Trump did not directly address the family separations on Sunday, saying only that Democrats should work with Republicans on border security legislation.”
-Peter Baker, “Leading Republicans Join Democrats in Pushing Trump to Halt Family Separations,” The New York Times online, June 17, 2018