Trump blasts Democrats amid outcry over ‘zero tolerance’ policy

UPDATE: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon asking the Department of Defense to help house immigrant families caught crossing the border illegally, ending a nearly two-month-old policy of separating children from parents. The order also asks immigration officials to expedite prosecutions for parents, an attempt to limit the amount of time families stay in detention. The president insisted the order did not reverse the “zero tolerance” policy under which all illegal immigrants will face prosecution for breaking U.S. law. But it did reverse a position Trump ultimately couldn’t hold in the face of growing outrage that stretched across party lines. The president previously said only Congress could change the law and end family separations. During a Wednesday ceremony in the Oval Office, Trump said he didn’t like the “sight” or “feeling” of children separated from their parents: “We’re going to have strong, very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together.”

UPDATE (2:45 p.m.): President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he would sign an executive order ending the process of separating children from parents who cross the border illegally. “We want to keep families together. It’s very important,” the president told reporters. “I’ll be signing something in a little while that’s going to do that.” The White House has yet to release details of the order, but earlier reports indicated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had drafted an order requiring immigration officials to detain children along with their parents, keeping families together.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (12:01 p.m.): A Guatemalan mother separated from her 7-year-old son a month ago when they crossed the U.S. border together sued the Trump administration Tuesday. After gaining her release from custody, Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia began searching for her son, Darwin. She thinks he might be in a shelter in Arizona but claims officials won’t confirm his location. The lawsuit comes amid a mounting outcry against the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy toward immigrants, which has led to the separation of parents and children.

Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy last month, the federal government has opened three shelters for young children, including toddlers and babies. Child welfare advocates have decried the trauma suffered by children taken from their parents with no idea when they might see them again. “The shelters aren’t the problem, it’s taking kids from their parents that’s the problem,” said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin, who has visited the shelters. Doctors and lawyers given access to the facilities described rooms full of children crying hysterically and acting out.

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to blast his opponents for the problem: “It’s the Democrats fault, they won’t give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something—it never ends!” Amid the rampant criticism and uncertainty over whether Congress will act quickly to change the law, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has reportedly drafted an executive order that would halt family separations by detaining children with their parents. It’s not clear whether Trump supports the move.