Who Will Put an End to the Child Separation Policy?
The GOP is divided over two potential bills to address immigration issues including the highly contentious policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border. Trump has distanced himself from the issue, blaming Democrats and saying that he will sign either of the bills. There is bipartisan support for ending the child separation policy, but it is yet unclear who will be able to make a change. More at Wall Street Journal.
House Republicans plan to vote next week on a pair of immigration bills, including one that would end the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from their parents at the Southwest border… In the House GOP proposal released Thursday there is a provision ending the policy. The fate of that measure and another backed by a significant bloc of conservatives is uncertain, meaning the family separation policy could remain intact indefinitely.
Democrats, actively denouncing the zero-tolerance policy, have remained united against the GOP measures but are pushing a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to immediately block family separations. No Republican has publicly supported that option… White House officials have said the president is betting that by continuing to separate families, he will gain political leverage in negotiations with Congress over a new immigration bill and cause a drop in the number of immigrants seeking entry.
A top White House adviser on Sunday distanced the Trump administration from responsibility for separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, even though the administration put in place and could easily end a policy that has led to a spike in cases of split and distraught families. U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to blame Democrats, who hold no levers of power in the government, for a situation that has sparked fury and a national debate over the moral implications of his hardline approach to immigration enforcement.