Sanders: Trump EO ‘Didn’t Go Anywhere Near Far Enough’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) argued that President Trump’s executive order on immigration “didn’t go anywhere near far enough.” Sanders cited the lack of understanding on when children who were already separated from their families will be reunited with their families and stated the Trump administration’s solution to family separation is presumably “to provide indefinite detention.”

Sanders said, “The idea of tearing little children from the arms of their parents, putting them into detention cages, and then making a big deal about an executive order, which may do absolutely nothing for these 2,300 children is literally beyond belief. Trump, once again, has lied. He told the American people that this was a policy created by Congress, could only be addressed by Congress. He was lying. Of course it was a crisis that he created and attempted to address today, but he didn’t go anywhere near far enough. So, where we are right now, is close to 2,400 kids are still separated from their parents. There is no understanding, as your reporters have indicated, when these children will be reunited. Furthermore, we have a situation where the Trump administration now, their solution is to provide indefinite detention. I presume that for the new people who are arrested, they will be with their children, in jail, for an indefinite period of time. Because the Trump administration wants to undo the Flores settlement, which focuses on the needs of children and limits to 20 days, the number of days that children can be in jail.”

Sanders later added that if the Flores settlement isn’t overturned, “It may well mean that those kids will then be separated from their parents. And here is the absurdity, I think we have a mechanism now to keep track of those families to make sure that they get to court when they should get to court, and by the way, you can do that for a much lower cost to the taxpayers than imprisoning parents and children.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett