Trump administration struggles to handle backlash from tough immigration policies

Between the recent contradictory statements between its members and their controversial public statements, the White House has recently struggled to manage their immigration policies and the possible changes to them that are on the way. This is all a result of a policy that enabled U.S. officials to separate migrating children from their families at the U.S. border, and the way that the Trump administration tried to defend the procedures.

The recent press briefings at the White House have done little to improve the public perception of the topic, which views President Trump and supporters of this measure as heartless and highly immoral. On Monday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders decided to delay her scheduled briefing for several hours and instead brought Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to speak to the press about the policies.

She had allegedly been preparing for the interaction and had been instructed to defend the measures and humanize the Trump administration. She echoed the comments made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, blaming the parents for their children’s situation and saying that they were the ones who endangered their children by entering the country illegally.

She also stated that the measure was created by the Congress, not by the new administration, which is contrary to what has been confirmed by several U.S. officials including Sessions. This caused controversy in the room, and Nielsen moved forward to say that there is little the President can do and that people can only rely on Congress for a change. She remarked that the administration would not apologize for their measures and that they are merely enforcing the law.

Not only was this statement absolutely false, but she did not address the fact that there are currently two bills that would reform these immigration laws and prevent for the separation to happen. The conversation also touched on the fact that several images and footage of children being kept in chain-link cages at the U.S. border have surfaced and stirred more comments on the necessity of the new reforms. The tensions regarding these topics have caused for a meeting between Trump and Republicans on Tuesday, the results of which are still unknown.

According to some White House officials, Nielsen was prepared by several teams for her interviews, like homeland security officials, chief of staff John Kelly and Sarah Sanders and the press team. Despite this, she did not discuss the topic of separation with the President personally and instead talked about border wall funding.

Donald Trump has not supported his officials in the project of easing the tensions with the public regarding the topic. He had previously stated that he “hated” the separation policy and blamed Democrats for its existence, saying that they both created it and are the only ones who can change it. Several days later, after seeing that his staff was not able to handle the subject positively with the press, he decided to hold a briefing himself in the White House.

The separation measures have been received negatively by members of both parties who have claimed them to be “un-American” and highly immoral.

Featured Image via Flickr/ U.S. Departmenr of Homeland Security (DHS)