Trump blew a deadline to reunite families — then blamed the families

On Tuesday, the Trump administration missed the deadline to reunite the youngest of its stolen and imprisoned children with parents. So, when he was asked about it, Trump did what he does best: He lied and blamed someone else.

It was two weeks ago that federal Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the Trump administration to reunite all detained children and parents within 30 days, and those younger than five years old within two weeks. The first deadline has now passed, and the Trump administration has only managed to arrange for about half of the children under five to be reunited with their parents.

On Tuesday morning, Trump was asked about the crisis during a gaggle with reporters, and blamed his mess on the very families he’s ripped apart.

“Reaction to latest deadline missed on child reunions?” a reporter asked.

“I have a solution. Tell people not to come to our country illegally!” Trump said. “That’s the solution. Don’t come to our country illegally. Come like other people do. Come legally.”

Trump was then asked “Is that what you’re saying? You’re punishing the children?” He just repeated his line again.

In fact, many of the families who have been ripped apart were seeking legal asylum in the United States, which is their right to do under the constitution.

And despite Trump’s effort to blame everyone but himself, it was Trump’s decision to rip families apart by prosecuting every border crossing, rather than undertake civil removal proceedings.

A few weeks ago, Trump attempted to quash bad headlines by signing a sham executive order that dealt with family separations by seeking to detain families indefinitely, a prospect almost as cruel as the separations.

But on Monday, Federal District Judge Judge Dolly M. Gee rejected the Trump administration’s request to detain families for longer than twenty days, writing that the Trump administration’s request “is a cynical attempt…to shift responsibility to the Judiciary for over 20 years of Congressional inaction and ill-considered Executive action that have led to the current stalemate.”

She added, “what is certain is that the children… who are now in Defendants’ custody are blameless. They are subject to the decisions made by adults over whom they have no control.”

But nothing is too low for Trump, even blaming the very children he has ripped away from their parents. Trump owns this failure, and so does every lawmaker who stands by and says nothing while it continues.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.