Chrissy Teigen and John Legend make $288,000 donation to ACLU to 'Make Trump's Birthday Great Again'

Pledge comes amid backlash over Trump administration of policy of separating parents and children crossing the US border

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have donated $288,000 to the fight against the Trump administration’s move to separate children and parents who come across US border amid protests over the policy across the country.

Teigen shared a statement of support for immigrant families on Twitter, calling out President Donald Trump and his administration for the, “horror stories of immigrant families seeking asylum and refuge in America being ripped apart due to inhumane policies”

Explaining on Twitter that their donation will go to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and their efforts, Teigen said that in honour of Mr Trump’s 72nd birthday on Thursday she was ironically calling the fundraising efforts: “Make Trump’s Birthday Great Again.”

Teigen said her family have pledged $72,000 for each family member, which brings the total to $288,000 including Legend and their two children Luna and Miles.

“These actions are cruel, anti-family and go against everything we believe this country should represent,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, demonstrators from coast to coast have sought to make their voices heard in an organised nationwide protest called “Families Belong Together” on Thursday. Organisers in each state have created protest events in their respective cities to demonstrate a wide objection to Mr Trump’s “zero tolerance” border crackdown.

Many elected officials and citizens alike have lambasted Mr Trump for the current border practices, with a number of tragic stories coming to light. One recent report involved a Honduran father in custody who took his own life apparently after he was separated from his wife and child at the border.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called the Trump administration’s policy“inhumane and shameful.”

“It’s cruel, scary, inhumane and shameful,” Ms Warren wrote on Twitter. “I don’t understand how the government and [Donald Trump] could do this to children.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions emphasised in May that all adults crossing the US border illegally should be criminally prosecuted under the “zero tolerance” policy, which leads to their children being placed in government shelters while the cases are processed.

Miguel Nogueras, an assistant federal public defender for the Southern District of Texas, told CNN that an estimated 500 children have been separated from their parents since the policy was enacted.

Emotions have run high over the issue and in Thursday’s press briefing at the White House reporter Brian Karem accused press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders of lacking empathy over the border policy.

“Come on Sarah, you’re a parent”, Mr Karem said. “Don’t you have any empathy for what these people are going through?”