Foster care... or whatever...

“I know what you’re going through right now with families is very tough. But those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It’s a horrible thing. We have to break up families.

The Democrats gave us that law and they don’t want to do anything about it. They’ll leave it like that because they don’t want to make any changes. And now you’re breaking up families because of the Democrats. It’s terrible.

'Put pressure on the Democrats to end this horrible law” he tweeted.

He certainly sounds upset about it and it's clear he's blaming the Democrats. He also blames the Democrats for 'failing to act on immigration'.

Here's the problem.

He's lying.

There is no law, Democratic or otherwise which mandates that children must be separated from their parents. None. The Democrats would have no power to end this law if it even if it existed – which it doesn't. They are the minority party in both chambers of congress and the Republican-led majority have not themselves taken up any significant immigration legislation in the house this session anyway.

So why are children being separated from their parents at the border?

It's because there is now a Trump administration zero-tolerance policy in place. Their parents are being prosecuted now. This is a Trump administration policy and it has nothing to do with Democrats.

When the parents are prosecuted they are placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshall's Service and since children cannot go to jail or to an adult detention centre, they are instead, taken away from their parents and placed in the custody of the Office of Health and Human Services Refugee Resettlement.

Homeland Securities long-standing policy is to separate children from their parents when the parent is being referred for criminal prosecution and since the new Trump administration policy is to prosecute the parents, these children are now being taken away from their parents.

This has nothing to do with Democrats. Trump is lying.

These children are not being separated from their parents because of a law that 'the Democrats gave us', they are being separated from their parents because of the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy.

It was Jeff Sessions who said:

“If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple, if you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law.”

The children are then considered to be unaccompanied minors and so turned over to the refugee resettlement office.

A Customs and Border Protection official told lawmakers that 658 children had been separated from their parents at the border from May 6 to May 19 as the parents face charges. That is in addition to hundreds more, who have been removed from their parents since October.

Just so we are clear. There is NO law which forces Trump to 'break up families'.

Trump has also falsely claimed that The Trafficking Victim's Protection Authorization Act of 2008 was a 'Democratic rule'. It wasn't. The T.V.P.A act requires unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada to be placed in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or relatives in the U.S., while they go through removal proceedings.

It was a bipartisan bill that was approved with unanimous consent and signed by the Republican George W Bush.

Unlike this current administration, the Obama administration did not separate children from their parents. As former President Barack Obama's domestic policy advisor Cecilia Muñoz has stated:

'We did not separate children from their parents. This is a new decision. A policy decision put into place by the Attorney General (Jeff Sessions). This puts us in league with the most brutal regimes in world history'.

In previous administrations the children would have been sent to family centres – together with their parents. In this current administration they are separated from their parents and become wards of the government.

Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission, said in a statement: "Family separation is NOT required by any law, this is a Trump administration policy clearly designed to punish parents, who are just trying to get their children to safety."

Ms. Brane also told the Houston Chronicle: “We have seen children as young as 18 months old deported without their parents and more commonly, parents deported without their children. Parents arrive in Central America with no idea how to get their children back.”

It's certainly a horrible situation. Let's remind ourselves what Donald Trump has to say about it:

I know what you’re going through right now with families is very tough. But those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It’s a horrible thing. We have to break up families.

The Democrats gave us that law and they don’t want to do anything about it. They’ll leave it like that because they don’t want to make any changes. And now you’re breaking up families because of the Democrats. It’s terrible.

'Put pressure on the Democrats to end this horrible law”.

And there you have it. 

The truth according to Donald Trump.