Trump claims separated children 'well taken care of' despite government admitting they can't find hundreds of parents

Donald Trump made the claim that the children separated at the US-Mexico border are “well taken care of” when asked about immigration during the third presidential debate. 

Moderator Kristen Welker specifically asked the president about the report that lawyers were unable to find the parents of 545 children who were separated at the border by the Trump administration.

"We’re trying very hard,” Mr Trump said about efforts to reunite children with their families.

“They are so well taken care of,” the president claimed. “They are in facilities that are so clean.”

But Democratic challenger Joe Biden called the action “criminal” by the Trump administration. 

“They separated from their parents and it makes us a laughing stock and violates every motion of who we are as a nation,” Mr Biden said. “Those kids are alone with nowhere to go. It’s criminal.”

To this, Mr Trump responded: “Who built the cages, Joe?” 

The Trump administration was responsible for a now-suspended policy that separated thousands of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. But the Obama administration first built the “cages” to temporarily hold migrant children. 

Mr Biden for one of the first times distanced himself from his former administration when addressing immigration reform. 

“We made a mistake,” he said about the policies the Obama administration put in place. "It took too long to get it right. I’ll be President of the United States, not Vice President of the United States.”

President Barack Obama faced stark criticism throughout his eight years in office for his immigration policies, which has harmed Mr Biden among some voters.  

To show his differences, Mr Biden then listed out what policies he intended to enact if he won the White House. 

“I’ve made it very clear within 100 days I’m going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people,” Mr Biden said. 

"And all of those so-called dreamers, those DACA kids, they’re going to be immediately certified again to be able to stay in this country and put on a path to citizenship,” he added. “The idea that they are being sent home by this guy and they want to do that is they’ve gone to a country they’ve never seen before.”