Trump Announces Executive Order To Stop Family Separations At The Border

Donald Trump

After weeks of claiming only Congress has the power to stop separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border of the United States, Donald Trump announced today that he will sign an executive order to stop the horrific policy.

The truth of the matter is no executive order is needed. Trump can stop all this with a phone call to his Attorney General.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Trump’s executive order would seek to get around an existing 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention — even if they are with their parents — for more than 20 days.

Stories of children being taken from their parents and images of teenagers in cage-like detention facilities have exploded into a full-blown political crisis for Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers, who are desperate for a response to critics who have called the practice “inhumane” and “evil.”

Mr. Trump has for weeks refused to simply end his government’s “zero tolerance” policy that led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents, saying that the alternative would be to fling open the nation’s borders and allow immigrants who cross the border illegally to remain in the country.
But the president, furious about the pummeling he has taken in recent days, has been casting about for an escape from the crisis, people familiar with his thinking said.

Today's announcement comes as Trump's approval rating on immigration has hit an all-time low.

According to a CNN poll released Monday, Trump's handling of immigration dropped five points in just the last month to only 35% approval.

Axios reported this morning that a senior White House official described Trump's perspective on the issue as "being moved personally, but also doesn't want to look weak."

"He feels boxed in, is frustrated and knows it's bad politics — but also understands it's not a fight he can back down from," added the official.

Watch Trump weave back and forth in his announcement below:

Trump commits arson, ignores the fire, then demands accolades when he puts out the fire. This is how he governs. https://t.co/oLCCFwcmYZ

— Chris Lavoie (@RadioGuyChris) June 20, 2018