Trump redoubles claim Democrats to blame after outrage as children forcibly removed from parents at border

This is a tactic the president has employed for several days

President Donald Trump, once again, blamed Democrats for not stopping the separation of families at the US border.

The president wrote on Twitter that "Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change!"

Mr Trump has been employing this tactic as a political move to stoke anger among his reporters, garner more media attention, and make a play for the 2018 midterm elections. He tweeted: "This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!"

The tweet only obscures the fact made clear earlier this week that the administration actually has the unilateral ability to end the policy should they choose.

Nearly 2,000 children have been split from those caring for them a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by the Associated Press. They show that 1,995 minors were separated from 1,940 adults between April 19 and May 31.

There has been widespread outrage over the matter with protests, rallies, and legal advocacy groups mobilising to help where they can.

Reports say some are as young as four months old, and stories of weeping children torn from the arms of their frightened parents have flooded the media. The policy has been widely criticised by church groups, politicians and children's advocates who say it is inhumane.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders justified the policy on Thursday by describing it as Biblical: “It is very Biblical to enforce the [particular immigration] law, that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible.”

When asked yesterday by a gaggle of reporters gathered on the White House lawn why the administration will not exercise its ability to stop the policy, Mr Trump said: “The Democrats forced that law upon our nation".

“I hate to see separation of parents and children. I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law. That’s the Democrats’ law. We can change it tonight. We can change it right now. That’s a Democrat bill. That’s Democrats wanting to do that and they could solve it very easily by getting together," the President falsely claimed.

It is not a Democratic law to separate families. Nowhere in US immigration law or court precedent does it compel the federal government to charge asylum seekers with crimes and take away their children.

Per US law, asylum seekers must enter the country before applying for asylum. They are allowed to wait in-country for their hearings as well given that those seeking the protected status are often fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. However, due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero tolerance" policy, asylum seeking has essentially been criminalised.

And per US policy, children cannot be taken into the criminal justice system - leading to thousands of children being kept in "shelters" which are actually tantamount to detention facilities.

Two Republican bills are currently having the finishing touches to them by Mr Trump’s party. The first is a hard-right proposal, the second the more moderate plan negotiated by the party’s conservative and centrist wings, with White House input.

Only the latter would open a door to citizenship for young immigrants brought to the US illegally as children, and reduce the separation of children from their parents when families are detained crossing the border.

“I’m looking at both of them,” Mr Trump said when asked about the proposals during the Fox and Friends interview, adding: “I certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.”

The White House later backtracked on the comments, formally endorsing the measure and saying the president had been confused.

He is forcing the hand of Democrats in order to obtain financing for his proposed, nearly 2,000-mile border wall. He repeatedly promised voters that Mexico would somehow pay for this wall and kept up that rhetoric well into his first year in office. The White House has refused to answer questions about campaign promise and current realities in federal funding.

Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority leader, has said he would not bring any immigration bill to a vote in the Senate if the president refuses to sign it.

Still, House Republicans, who are in the majority, will hold two votes this coming week on what has been labelled as the "moderate" bill and a more hard-line bill.