Fox & Friends host: “You can't even really blame an administration” for policy under Trump of separating parents from children at the border

In April 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a “zero-tolerance policy,” which caused the separation of children from their parents at the border

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the June 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): So, it's very clear the president and the White House made it crystal clear yesterday they're going to continue this maximum pressure policy of separating parents from children at the border to make the point that that is the law of the land. You don't like it, change the law.  Also, it's a message to people who are thinking about coming into this country illegally, don't do it because you'll be arrested and there's a possibility your children will be separated from them if they are, in fact, your children. 

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Well, the law is the law, and it was passed by Congress as [Fox News correspondent] Griff [Jenkins] was mentioning. You can't even really blame an administration. These are people, Republicans and Democrats, that are serving in the Senate and in the House, and they have to change this. If you don't like it, they need to change the plan. The TVPRA [Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act] says, and they're just following the law, these Border Patrol agents, they have to follow the law. When they find these children with their parents, this is what they have to do: They have to put the parents in the custody of U.S. Marshal Service for pre-trial determination. The child has to be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Service and then reclassified as an unaccompanied alien child. Then they're put into those shelters. And [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions says that they are not being abused. He says the conditions are good. He said we spent $1 billion last year. Your taxpayer dollars to make sure these kids are safe. 

Related:

US Department of Justice: Attorney General Announces Zero-Tolerance Policy for Criminal Illegal Entry

Previously:

Myths and facts: Trump's separation of families and detention of children at the U.S.-Mexico border

Tucker Carlson: People speaking up against America detaining children in cages just want to “change your country forever”

Jeff Sessions to Laura Ingraham: Comparisons to Nazis aren’t fair because “in Nazi Germany they were keeping the Jews from leaving”

Laura Ingraham: People talking about children being held in cages at the border “is hilarious”