Melania Trump says she 'hates to see' families separated at border amid immigration crackdown

It was a rare statement on a policy issue from the First Lady

Melania Trump has said she “hates to see children separated from their families” – a rare political intervention from the First Lady amid an immigration crackdown launched by her husband’s administration.

As hundreds of protesters gathered outside facilities in Texas and New Jersey being used to separate and detain migrant youngsters split from their families, among them a large tent camp near the Mexico border, and as Donald Trump prepared to meeting legislators to discuss the latest immigration crisis, the First Lady issued a statement, calling on both parties to solve the problem.

“Mrs Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN.

She added: “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

Mrs Trump, who has made helping children the crux of her official “Be Best” platform as First Lady, had yet to discuss the state of families and immigration, a topic that has been prominent in headlines for days.

Since May, the Trump administration has charged every adult caught crossing the border illegally with federal crimes, as opposed to referring those with children mainly to immigration courts, as previous administrations did.

Because the government is charging the parents in the criminal justice system, children are separated from them, without a clear procedure for their reunification. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an immigration hardliner, has admitted the policy is an attempt to dissuade people from trying to cross and has used passages from the bible to defend his actions in light of widespread condemnation

The policy to refer all adults for charges was publicly announced on May 7, but the Justice Department announced it would prosecute 100 per cent of the cases referred to it at the beginning of April.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has claimed, incorrectly, that previous administrations are responsible for the policy he has adopted. Critics have said he is using the young people to seek leverage over congress to force it to fund a border wall.

On Sunday, Democratic legislators joined hundreds of protesters in New Jersey and Texas to demonstrate outside immigration detention facilities for young people.

“This must not be who we are as a nation,” said congressman Jerrold Nadler, one of seven members of Congress from New York and New Jersey who met with five detainees inside the facility.

Reuters said the event in the city of Elizabeth came as news stories highlighting the family separations intensified political pressure on the White House, even from some of Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans.

US officials said last Friday that nearly 2,000 children were separated from adults at the border between mid-April and the end of May.

In May, Mr Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy in which all those apprehended entering the United States illegally, including those seeking asylum, would be criminally charged. This usually results in children being separated from their parents.

In South Texas on Sunday, several Democrats including Senator Jeff Merkley, toured detention facilities to call attention to the policy, while congressman Beto O’Rourke, who is running for the US Senate in Texas, marched with protesters to a tent camp established last week close to the border at Tornillo, 40 miles southwest of El Paso

“This is inhumane,” Mr O’Rourke told CNN. “I’d like to say its un-American, but it’s happening right now in America.”