President Donald Trump reminded reporters Tuesday that former President Barack Obama also built cages to separate children from families trying to cross the border.
“Just so you understand, President Obama separated the children. Those cages that were shown — I think they were very inappropriate — they were built by President Obama’s administration, not by Trump,” he said.
Trump was referring to photos of children in cages in border enforcement facilities shared online by Democrats in 2018 that turned out to be from 2014 — during the Obama administration.
“President Obama had the law, we changed the law,” Trump said. “And I think the press should actually report it, but of course they won’t.”
Under Obama, the Department of Homeland Security did separate children at the border from their parents and put them in areas sectioned off by expanded metal fences.
But Trump was blamed for the same actions after Attorney General Jeff Sessions instituted a zero-tolerance policy prosecuting illegal border crossers.
In June 2018, President Trump signed an executive order to end child separation at the border, but the apprehension of family units at the border have increased since then.
Trump acknowledged Monday that child separation policies were effective, but that he was not considering reinstating them.
“When you don’t do it, it brings a lot more people to the border, we are not looking to do it,” he said.
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