Sign up for our newsletter.

Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.

"The Trump administration's decision to prosecute parents for illegal entry was taken in order to create an excuse to separate mothers from children" so they could keep the mothers detained, writer Brianna Rennix observed on Sunday in a detailed analysis of the White House's immigration policies. (Photo: CNN)

Trump Finally Admits He's Responsible: "You Have to Take the Children Away"

The president also attacked the press for publishing images from his own government showing children in cages and threatened to cut off funding for Central American nations

After weeks of evasions and outright lies aimed at avoiding responsibility for the torture he has inflicted upon immigrant families, President Donald Trump finally admitted in an off-the-rails speech on Tuesday that the thousands of family separations that have taken place on his watch are a direct consequence of his administration's decision to prosecute parents who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

"When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally—which should happen—you have to take the children away," Trump said before the National Federation of Independent Business. "Now you don't have to prosecute them, but then you're not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good."

Watch:

As Brianna Rennix of Current Affairs has noted, family separations are hardly an unintended result of the Trump administration's so-called "zero-tolerance" policy, as the president suggested when he claimed in his speech that he doesn't "want children taken away from parents."

"The Trump administration's decision to prosecute parents for illegal entry was taken in order to create an excuse to separate mothers from children" so they could keep the mothers detained, Rennix observed on Sunday in a detailed analysis of the White House's immigration policies.

In addition to conceding that his administration's policy shift is responsible for the thousands of family separations that have taken place over the past six weeks alone, Trump also threatened to cut off "funding" for Central American nations that "send" migrants to the United States and slammed the press for daring to publish photos and videos of children detained in cages.

"They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe," Trump said of the media, which has circulated photos released by his own government.

Watch:

As a finale to his defense of cruelly separating children from their parents, Trump danced to one side of the stage and literally hugged an American flag:

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
We need your help.

Support progressive journalism.

Common Dreams is not your average news site. We don't survive on clicks or advertising dollars. We rely entirely on your support. And without it, our independent progressive journalism simply wouldn’t exist. Every gift of every amount matters.

Join the fight and support our common dreams today.

Donate now

Latest News

See all
AOC on State of the Union

Ocasio-Cortez Says 'Elephant in the Room' Is Senate Democrats Blocking Their Own Party's Agenda

"The argument that we need to make here," the New York Democrat said of bipartisanship's dead end, "is that it's worth going it alone if we can do more for working people in this country."

Jon Queally, staff writer ·

G7 leaders drowning

On Climate and Covid-19 Emergencies, G7 Judged a 'Colossal Failure' for All the World to See

"Never in the history of the G7 has there been a bigger gap between their actions and the needs of the world. In the face of these challenges the G7 have chosen to cook the books on vaccines and continue to cook the planet."

Jon Queally, staff writer ·

Eric Adams on teachers and education

NYC Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Rebuked for 'Dangerous' 400-Students-to-1-Teacher Theory

"Defunding schools to the point that we have a 400:1 student-to-teacher ratio so we can bankroll another huge expansion in an already-multibillion dollar police budget," said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, "is how you build a school-to-prison pipeline."

Jon Queally, staff writer ·

G7 Protesters target richest nations over moral crisis of climate and vaccines

Lack of Patent Waiver Would Add Over $70 Billion to Cost of Vaccinating World: Oxfam

Most of that money, said a spokesperson for the group, "will go directly into the pockets" of Big Pharma shareholders.

Jon Queally, staff writer ·

Darnella Frazier

Darnella Frazier Receives Pulitzer Special Citation 'for Courageously Recording the Murder of George Floyd'

"Without Darnella, Derek Chauvin never would have been tried and George Floyd would have been blamed by the state for his own death."

Brett Wilkins, staff writer ·

Most Popular

 
  1. Progressives Rally to Defend Ilhan Omar After 'Bad Faith' Attack by House Democratic Leadership
  2. 'Dangerous and Unconscionable': Amnesty Finds Biden Is Illegally Expelling Thousands of Unaccompanied Children
  3. 'Egregious': Facebook Let Pro-Trump Group Pose as Leftists to Split Democratic Vote
  4. "Might as Well Be Titled, 'Why I'll Vote to Preserve Jim Crow'": Manchin Panned Over Op-Ed Against For the People Act
  5. 'Fossil Fuel Exit Strategy' Shows Transition to Renewable Future Totally Doable
  6. 'Climate Denial Masquerading as Bipartisanship': Progressives Reject Latest Infrastructure Compromise
  7. New Campaign to Fight Amazon's Push for World 'Dominated by Total Corporate Surveillance'
  8. Consumerism, Another Inheritance From the Slavery System
  9. NYC Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Rebuked for 'Dangerous' 400-Students-to-1-Teacher Theory
  10. 'Little More Than a PR Gimmick': Critics Say G7 Vaccine Donation Pledges Won't Cut It