Mexico slams Trump's 'zero tolerance' migration policy

World
Europe

Mexico on Tuesday condemned US immigration policy that separates undocumented migrant children from their families as "cruel and inhumane" and called for it to be overturned.

Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Videgaray said the "zero tolerance" policy has divided about 2,000 Mexican and Central American families at the US-Mexico border since April.

US President Donald Trump's hardline policy – arrests for anyone illegally crossing into the US from Mexico – has led to children being taken away from their parents and kept in separate detention facilities.

A young girl holds a sign during a demonstration outside the San Francisco office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), June 19, 2018, in San Francisco, California. /VCG Photo

In response, the US president has said he does not want "children taken away from parents" but insisted that it was a necessary step.

"When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away," Trump told a gathering of small business owners on Tuesday. "We don't have to prosecute them, but then we are not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good."

NY to sue Trump over separations

The separations of families and detention of children at the southern US border with Mexico have caused an uproar in the United States and condemnation abroad, fueled by videos of children in cages and audiotape of children wailing for their parents that has aired on cable networks and posted on social media.

Immigration advocates from the Border Network for Human Rights march to protest the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy in El Paso, Texas, US, June 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Democrats who have visited minors in detention in Texas and California describe crying children held in cage-like conditions behind chain-link fencing, with no idea when they will see their parents again.

“The Trump administration’s policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy,” Andrew Cuomo, New York's Democratic governor and possible 2020 presidential candidate, said on Tuesday in a statement announcing the state's decision to sue Trump administration.

Cuomo said that separating parents and children at the border violated their rights under the US Constitution, US Supreme Court precedents and a 1997 legal settlement that set standards for the treatment of children detained for immigration reasons.

Congress seeking solutions

Trump has sought to link an end to the family separations to the passage of a wider bill on immigration. The president told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday he would back either of the immigration bills currently making their way through the House of Representatives

House Republicans were working on a revised draft of one version of an immigration overhaul that would prevent family separations in some cases for those attempting an illegal border crossing for the first time, according to a House Republican aide.

Immigration advocates from the Border Network for Human Rights march to protest the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy in El Paso, Texas, US, June 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

The draft bill was seen just days ago as unlikely to pass, but has gained support in the House. It remains unclear whether the new language about preventing family separations would improve its chances of progress.

Both Republican bills under discussion, which have been blasted by Democrats and immigration advocacy groups, would fund a US-Mexico border wall and reduce legal migration, in part by denying visas for some relatives of US residents and citizens who are living abroad, sometimes referred to as “chain migration.”

Source(s): AP ,AFP ,Reuters