Trump also praised himself for having the “political courage” to solve an issue he created in the first place.
Image via ABC News/YouTube.
Bowing to unavoidable pressure from Democrats, his wife, some Republicans, religious leaders, and any American with a shred of decency, Donald Trump has signed an executive order that in a way allows children to stay with their detained families.
The order doesn’t change his administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy of prosecuting all illegal border crossings, but it will at least allow for families to be held together during the process of prosecution and deportation.
“We are keeping families together, and this will solve that problem. At the time we are keeping a very powerful border, and it continues to be a zero tolerance — we have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally,” Trump said, although the functions of the order and its modifications to guiding principles like the Flores decision are unclear.
\nPresident @realDonaldTrump says he is going to sign an executive order ending the separation of families at the U.S. border.
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 20, 2018\n
Five days ago, he said it was not possible to sign an executive order ending the separation of families at the border. pic.twitter.com/u5Yn5hGL8N
Just a day before, Trump erroneously claimed he had no authority to stop the separations and that it would require an act of Congress to change the policy. In reality, he didn’t even have to sign an executive order, all he needed to do was make a phone call.
On June 15, Trump crassly admitted he was using the separated children as a bargaining chip to get Congressional Democrats to agree to his other immigration demands. “The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda,” he tweeted.
\n"Nobody's had the political courage to take care of it, but we're going to take care of it," Pres. Trump says as he officials signs executive order, ending family separation policy at border. https://t.co/uVatuft6AN pic.twitter.com/55BCmRFD1G
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 20, 2018\n
To save face for his administration’s repulsive policy, he falsely claimed that child separations had been going on at the border for generations.
“I didn’t like sight or the feeling of families being separated; it’s a problem that’s gone on for many years, too many administrations,” he said after signing the order. He also praised himself for having the “political courage” to solve an issue — one that he created in the first place.
But until we discover what was really in the proclamation Trump signed, we will have to wait and see.
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