White house defends controversial immigration policy

Separating families at the border

The Trump administration has defended its controversial immigration policy following mass furor over the separation of immigrant children and their parents along the US-Mexico border.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has now told reporters at a White House briefing that the administration was only strictly enforcing the law: “This administration did not create a policy of separating families … What has changed is that we no longer exempt entire classes of people who break the law,” she said.

When asked by reporters if the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents amounts to “child abuse”, Nielsen insisted that the conditions at the detention facilities are up to par: “We have high standards. We give them meals and we give them education and we give them medical care. There are videos, there are TVs.”