Melania Trump’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham , has said the first lady “hates to see children separated from their families”, in a rare public statement at odds with her husband’s policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border.
Stephanie Grisham said the first lady believes “we need to be a country that follows all laws”, but also one “that governs with heart”. She added: “Mrs Trump ... hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform.”
The intervention came as reports emerged of children being held in cages at a warehouse in Texas after being separated from their parents. One cage had 20 children inside.
Those conditions were reported by media briefly allowed into the facility by US Border Patrol. But Donald Trump’s secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Neilsen, criticised what she called “misreporting” by politicians and the press.
Elaborating on her statement that “we do not have a policy of separating families at the border”, she tweeted: “DHS takes very seriously its duty to protect minors in our temporary custody from gangs, traffickers, criminals and abuse. We have continued the policy from previous administrations and will only separate if the child is in danger, there is no custodial relationship between ‘family’ members, or if the adult has broken a law.”
