What’s happening at the US border

Cindy Madrid on Thursday spoke to her 6-year-old daughter, Alisson, for the first time since they were separated after crossing the border, according to a spokesperson with Southwest Key Programs shelters, which is housing the girl.

Madrid is in a detention facility in Texas, and hadn’t seen or talked to her daughter, although she heard her daughter’s voice in an anguished voice recording released by investigative news nonprofit ProPublica. In the audio recording, other separated children sob desperately.

Jeff Eller, spokesperson for Southwest Key Programs, said Alisson was assigned a case manager and got to speak to her aunt. She began the reunification process, he said.

A source told CNN that Madrid has another call with her daughter scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Watch more:

Melissa Lopez helps reunite separated immigrant children with their parents, and she’s been busy.  

Lawyers have sent her organization several requests from distraught parents searching for their children after crossing the border through El Paso.

“They will send us a list and say, ‘please check,’ ” said Lopez, who serves as the executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, Texas. 

So far, they have reconnected between 20 to 30 families over the phone. As facilities reach capacity, children are increasingly being sent to other parts of the country, away from where their parents are detained, Lopez said. There’s no easy system to match family members, she said, and phone calls are a crucial, immediate way to reconnect. 

The Office of Refugee Resettlement provides parents with a hotline to call for details on a separated child, and says it will work across agencies to schedule regular phone communication. 

“They (parents) have to hope that somebody reaches out to follow up. It’s a really inhumane system,” Lopez said.  

Parents decide if they’ll get deported with or without their children, Henry Lucero, a field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a roundtable of lawmakers in Weslaco, Texas.

Lucero said a parent in ICE custody is asked if they want to be repatriated with or without their children. 

ICE says “a majority” of parents are opting to be deported without their child so the children can go through the immigration system, he said.

If the parent decides to have their child back, the consulate of their origin country will work with ICE to reunite the parents and children while they are still in the United States. 

Ryan Patrick, US attorney for Southern District of Texas, said prosecutions for illegal entry are up 266% since the “zero-tolerance” policy went into effect.

Customs and Border Protection expects all unaccompanied children in its custody to be reunited with their parents Friday, an administration official said.

An important note: These would be children separated mostly within the last 72 hours who were never transferred out of CBP custody when President Trump’s executive order came down this week.

Some context: These children are not the 2,300 to 3,000 children in the custody of Department of Health and Human Services.

The official goes on to say some children, who were separated for reasons other than the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, will not be reunited with their families. Generally, the official explains, these are cases where “the familial relationship cannot be confirmed, or believe the adult is a threat to the safety of the child, or the adult is a criminal undocumented immigrant.”

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department met at the White House Thursday night and Friday to discuss how to interpret President Trump’s executive order, according to White House officials.

The agencies and the White House are not yet on the same page about how the order and the “zero-tolerance” policy align in terms of who is referred for prosecution. The President himself hasn’t participated in all of the sessions, the officials said.

What Trump’s order does

The executive order asks that families be housed together “where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.” Trump’s seeks more authority to detain families together until the end of their immigration proceedings.

What it doesn’t do

So far, the administration has not provided details on how it plans to unite the at least 2,300 children separated from their families. The executive order does not address the uniting of families already separated – and existing policies place the onus on parents to find their children in Department of Health and Human Services custody and seek to reunite with them.

A senior Republican congressional aide confirmed the confusion over President Trump’s executive order is shared by members of Congress, including its leadership.

When asked whether the administration had a plan for reuniting children separated at the border with their parents, the aide said, “I’m not sure what the plan is there.” 

The executive order the President signed kept in place the “zero-tolerance” prosecution policy that resulted in families caught crossing illegally at the border being separated because the adults are charged with a crime, but it said that the administration would aim to keep families together during that process going forward.

But that left a number of questions unanswered, not the least of which was what would happen to the more than 2,300 children now in government shelters all over the country who had been separated from their parents since the policy went into effect in April and whether those families would be reunited.

Several people interrupted Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as he addressed reporters on Friday after touring a temporary shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Florida.

The people, who were not seen on camera, called the Florida lawmaker an opportunist in both English and Spanish.

One person said in Spanish: “You’re an opportunist. You have the same vision as the President. They see us like animals.”

Rubio told reporters that he was not allowed to speak to the children in the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, but that workers were doing the best given the circumstances.

He also said he believes families should be detained together, although he doesn’t think the United States has the capacity to allow that and doesn’t want to incentivize others to take what he called a “dangerous journey.”

Eileen Blessinger, a pro bono attorney for immigrants, said that it will take about a month to reunite children who have been separated from their parents at the border.

Her understanding is that there is no process yet and they are still trying to figure out a procedure for the reunification of families. Blessinger says she was told by a senior US Immigration and Customs Enforcement official that it might take a month for that reunification to happen.

She says she’s working with several parents who claim they have not spoken to their children in weeks, including:

California Sen. Kamala Harris just toured a detention facility in San Diego, and said her “heart is broken.”

Harris, speaking to a crowd outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center, said she sat down and talked to migrant mothers who were separated from their children. The mothers, she said, “think that they are alone.”

“These mothers have given testimony, if you will, have given the stories, have shared their stories … of a human rights abuse being committed by the United States government,” the Democratic lawmaker said Friday.

Harris, a career prosecutor, blasted the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy and the President’s executive order.

She said there is no doubt these mothers are being held in prisons, not detention facilities. Harris said they are being held in cells. She said they are paid $1 dollar a day for work, and must pay for phones calls, which cost 85 cents a minute.

“A society will be judged on based how it treats its children and the least among us,” Harris said. “We will be judged harshly for this.”

She urged demonstrators to stand up, march and fight for the thousands of migrant children.

“The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart,” Harris said.

Mario Russell, lead attorney for Catholic Charities, which is legally representing some separated children, told CNN that each child is required to appear in court to start the reunification process.

Their parents will have their own court appearance. It’s a long process that Russell said should be sped up for these children.

“The decision whether to transfer a person or not ultimately is a government position,” he said. “We can argue for it, we can make the case in front of a judge, like I said, we haven’t been in front of the judges yet though, but ultimately that’s not our decision.”

He said that each child in their care has a team consisting of a lawyer, a social worker, and a case worker among others. Typically, this team meets with each individual child it takes into its care. He says that while he has not personally met with a child who was separated from their family at the border, his team of lawyers have.

The bottom line is: with all of the legal confusion, he’s not sure how long it would take to reunify the kids with their parents. He believes it should be a quick process for the sake of the kids but he feels that that’s out of his control.

Children in New York separated from their parents due to the “zero-tolerance” policy are experiencing nightmares, disorientation and anxiety, according to an attorney for Catholic Charities, which is legally representing some children.

Mario Russell, the lead attorney with Catholic Charities, says none of these children have begun the family reunification process.

He says the overarching feeling is that these kids are afraid.

Rep. Ted Lieu played the sounds of crying children from a detention facility on the House floor Friday afternoon and Rep. Karen Handel, who was presiding, demanded he stop.

Lieu stood there resolute and refused to back down, saying “the American people need to hear this,” with a large photo of children in cages next to him while the audio played.

He tweeted the full moment:

President Trump, speaking at an event for families of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants, described them as “permanently separated from their loved ones.”

“We’re gathered today to hear directly from the American victims of illegal immigration. You know you hear the other side, you never hear this side. You don’t know what is going on,” Trump said.

“These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones. The word permanently being the word that you have to think about. Permanently. They are not separated for a day or two days. Permanently separated.”

His use of the word “separated” comes days of the President digging in on a policy that resulted in immigrant family separations at the border. On Wednesday he signed an executive order that he said would keep families together.

Thousands of children remain separated from their parents as the President speaks.

Watch the remark:

President Trump is giving remarks at the White House along “angel families.”

What that means: The term “angel families” has been championed by activist groups to describe those who have lost a family member to violence perpetrated by undocumented immigrants.

An important note: There is no data that supports the argument that immigrants are prone to crime or terrorism at higher rates than the general population.

Trump’s “angel families” event caps off a week framed by a crisis of more than 2,000 immigrant children separated due to Trump administration policies from their parents, a hastily-prepared executive order, mixed messages from the President on Twitter, and more questions than answers about what will happen next.

As of today, there are 2,458 children under the age of 13 — also described by the US federal government as “tender age” children — in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an HHS spokesman.

That number includes:

The total number of “unaccompanied alien children” in HHS custody as of this week is over 11,600. (It fluctuates daily.)

An important to note: HHS cares for both separated children and children who came here alone, and the numbers above are for all total children, not specifically those separated from their parents.

While it can be inferred that most “tender age” children are likely to be separated from their parents (because it is hard to come to the US alone at such a young age), there are also other circumstances — like a teenager bringing a young sibling, or even his or her own child.

Learn more about “tender age” shelters in the video below:

Three undocumented immigrants, who are Guatemalan and Honduran nationals, filed suit Wednesday over being forcibly separated from their children that asks a D.C. court to require the government to provide them “reliable, daily” information on the “well-being” of their children.  

The information can be provided in writing or orally, but they are asking it include:

The court filing describes the limited communication parents have had with their children thus far.  

One parent says she has been able to speak with her three children for 10 minutes twice a week. The court filing calls these communications “costly and unreliable.”

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the House still plans to vote on the Republican immigration bill next week, despite the President’s tweet this morning warning GOP members they should “stop wasting their time” on immigration.

Where things in Congress stand now: The House on Thursday rejected one of two immigration bills Republicans have been working on. The second measure — a more moderate proposal known as the compromise bill — was scheduled for a vote today, but at the last minute, Republicans decided to postpone it.

Negotiators are now working on specific issues: An expansion of the e-verify system and addressing farm state lawmaker concerns of agriculture visas. To be perfectly clear: These are not clean or easy issues.

So can it pass? As of noon yesterday, the immigration bill wasn’t just short of the votes, aides said — it was well short of the votes.  It would be quite something to turn that around in 72 hours. 

Hundreds of migrant children separated from their parents at the US border have been sent to distant states, as far away as New York and Michigan.

A spokesman for the department of Health and Human Services said this happens for a variety of reasons including:

“There’s an effort to place them as closely as possible to where they’re going to be eventually reunified with a sponsor or a family member,” the spokesman said, adding that it is “pretty rare” that someone would be sent to New York if it’s only because of space.

If a child goes to New York, that usually means there’s an immediate family member in the New York facility, the spokesman explained.

HHS does not have a publicly accessible database to track children. The spokesman said lawyers and case workers are determining locations likely by pulling state licenses and going shelter by shelter to figure it out, as sources have also described to CNN.

The Republican Mayor of the largest border city in America slammed President Trump’s rhetoric on Mexico and said a wall “won’t work.” 

Dee Margo, the Mayor of El Paso in Texas, describes his city and Juarez, Mexico, as “one bi-national, bilingual, bi-cultural community.”

Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, recently visited a migrant holding faculty near the US southern border. He made the trip with other US lawmakers to see firsthand the conditions in the shelters.

Welch said the facility was clean, but had no windows. It was filled with chain-link fences “that in effect, are cages,” he said. Immigrants were separated by age and gender.

He then described the scene the stood out to him the most:

“One incident really stood out in my mind. It was three boys, and I assume they were brothers, and they’re on these thin mats that are provided. And like spoon style, they’re holding on to each other for dear life with no idea where their parents were. So that’s a pretty searing sight.”

Watch more:

President Bill Clinton told an audience in Chicago on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s child separation policy was “wrong” and “immoral.”

“Taking these kids away from their parents makes no sense,” he said. “It’s wrong. It’s immoral. It’s not required by the law. And it’s not necessary to protect the border. It’s just wrong.”

He added: “Children should not be bargaining chips.  They are people…I not only want this to stop, I want them to go get these kids that have already been sent away and give them back to their parents and do it right now.”

Clinton is on his book tour for “The President Is Missing,” a work of fiction he wrote with James Patterson.

The interview was with Bob Barnett, a longtime lawyer for the Clintons who has negotiated most – if not all – of their book deals.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte says that the GOP is going to push forward on immigration — despite Trump’s tweet saying the party should abandon the effort.

Goodlatte, the key chairman leading the effort on immigration, added that the Republican “absolutely” plan to push forward. The House voted down one immigration bill (one that was named after him) yesterday, but it’s still working on a second proposal.

CNN pressed further: But Trump told you to stop?

“I would say it’s more important to do it right now,” Goodlatte responded.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, requesting information about the children sent to New York after being separated from their parents at the US southern border.

De Blasio said he is “deeply concerned” for the health and safety of the children. He asked for information on how the government “will bring these families back together, and a deadline for accomplishing that task.” 

Why the New York City mayor is involved with the border crisis: At least 239 migrant children who were separated from their families are in the care of Cayuga Centers in Harlem, De Blasio said. The children include a 9-month-old. Some of the kids have bed bugs, lice, chicken pox and other contagious diseases.

De Blasio tweeted a copy of the full letter he sent to Azar:

US Customs and Border Protection says about 500 children have been reunified with their parents. At least 2,300 migrant kids had been separated from their parents after crossing the border under President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to stop family separations, but it did not address how officials would reunite children who had already been separated from their parents.

Here’s the full statement from Pete Ladowicz, with Customs and Border Protection:

The Administration continues to work to reunify prosecuted parents with their children. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has unified approximately 500 children (over 15%) with their parents who had been referred for prosecution for illegal entry. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services are developing a process to be centered at ICE’s Port Isabel Detention Center to continue unification efforts.

As House Republicans continue to work on their comprehensive immigration bill, Trump has some different advice: Stop until after the November midterms.

The President has repeatedly, and falsely, blamed the Democrats for the border crisis. Now, he’s urging Republicans to stop working with their Democratic colleagues and instead wait for a bigger GOP majority.

Here’s his tweet:

It was the third in a series of tweets blaming the “obstructionist” Democrats for blocking immigration reform. (Although, not even all of the Republicans are united on the issue).

Some context: Just days ago, President Trump urged Congress to take action to fix “ridiculous and obsolete” immigration laws. He said now is “the best opportunity” to do so:

House Republicans, facing failure, reverted to a tried and true escape hatch when it comes to immigration: Postpone, and keep negotiating. 

It’s a process that has taken place repeatedly — to some degree for years — and has never netted an actual GOP-only bill that can get a majority in the House. Will one more weekend of talks change that? Senior aides who have been through this a dozen or so times are understandably very skeptical.

Note: The first of two House immigration bills failed yesterday

What negotiators are working on now: Two specific issues: an expansion of the e-verify system and addressing farm state lawmaker concerns of agriculture visas. To be perfectly clear, these are not clean or easy issues. The are complicated thickets that bring in a lot of different business and constituent elements that likely will only serve to bring new problems to the table. 

Bottom line: The President says don’t even bother. The Senate Majority Leader has no intention of taking up a House proposal that will fall well short of the votes needed to pass in the Senate. As of noon yesterday, the immigration bill wasn’t just short of the votes, aides said: it was well short of the votes. It would be quite something to turn that around in 72 hours. 

Cindy Madrid hasn’t seen or talked to her 6-year-old daughter, Alisson, since they were separated at a Texas detention center after crossing the border.

“Imagine, all of these days without knowing anything about my daughter, without talking to her, without seeing her. Without any information about anything,” she told CNN in a phone interview from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Port Isabel detention center in Texas.

Her daughter was among the children who were heard sobbing in an audio recording obtained by ProPublica after being separated from their parents at the border.

As painful as it was to hear Alisson’s pleas, Madrid said she found solace in knowing the audio recording exposed the childrens’ anguished cries to the world.

She hoped to reunite with her daughter on Thursday after President Trump signed an executive order asking his agencies to keep families together. But Madrid said she hasn’t talked to her daughter and has only been in communication with a social worker.

Department of Justice spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores issued a statement Thursday about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his stance on the practice of separating families at the border.

Some background: Sessions told Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club that the Trump administration “never really intended to” separate families at the border.

But on May 7 — the day the policy was publicized — Sessions said, “So, if you cross the border, unlawfully, even a first offense, we’re gonna prosecute you … If you’re smuggling a child, we’re gonna prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you probably, as required by law. If you don’t want your child to be separated, then don’t bring them across the border illegally. It’s not our fault that somebody does that.”

Sessions interview with CBN will air on Friday and Monday.

Though the Trump administration outwardly is maintaining that it is continuing its “zero-tolerance” border policy, email traffic obtained by CNN shows that the policy has effectively been curtailed for now – the latest sign of confusion and disarray over how to implement an executive order designed to halt family separations at the border.

The decision by Customs and Border Protection to put a hold on referring adults caught crossing the border illegally if they arrive with their children comes after President Trump signed an executive order asking his agencies to keep families together at the border – though it did not order a halt to prosecutions.

According to email traffic sent Wednesday night and Thursday morning that was obtained by CNN, Customs and Border Protection has told its field offices to suspend referring any parents who cross the border illegally with their children for prosecution for misdemeanor illegal-entry charges.

The move, which could be reversed, effectively neuters “zero tolerance” as long as it is in effect. The series of emails shows how the President’s order left government agencies scrambling for how to comply – as it was rolled out without any clear guidance on what the practical effect would be.

First lady Melania Trump said her trip on Thursday to the US-Mexico border to tour an immigrant children’s shelter had impact on her.

In a statement, she said the children were “in good spirits,” and added that trip reinforced “the fact that these kids are in this situation as a direct result of adult actions.”

Here’s a readout of the first lady’s statement:

“Today’s visit impacted me greatly. I was very impressed with the center and the hardworking staff and leadership there – and thank them for all of their hard work. The children were eager to learn and were kind and in good spirits. Spending time with them reinforces the fact that these kids are in this situation as a direct result of adult actions. It is my hope that members of Congress will finally reach across the aisle and work together to solve this problem with common sense immigration reform that secures our borders and keeps families together.”

President Trump criticized Democrats in a tweet Thursday night for voting against a conservative immigration bill, saying “they won’t vote for anything.”

Trump tweeted:

Earlier Thursday, the US House of Representatives failed by 193-231 to pass another, more conservative immigration bill, known as the Goodlatte bill after House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a conservative Republican from Virginia.

With no Democrats voting for the bill, Republicans needed enough of their own members to get to a majority but failed to cross that threshold.

The House will no longer vote on Friday on the compromise immigration bill, following a late day meeting with GOP members.

An aide said they will work over the weekend to try and craft something for next week. The aide said changes will likely be made to the bill.

The announcement that the vote was postponed came at the end of two-hour conference meeting on Thursday, where members went point by point through the massive immigration bill.

“I think the fact they’re going through the bill section by section at 5:15 p.m. the day before the bill is going to be voted on is indicative of there is more work that needs to be done,” Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei said before the bill was postponed.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, says she sees no way to reunite parents and children who were separated at the border.

“I don’t see how it could possibly happen,” Rice told CNN. “And to be frank, the administration has basically admitted that there is no way that they can reunify these children with their parents.”

She said no information was taken from families when they were separated.

“A lot of these kids barely even know their own names, don’t speak English,” Rice said. “This reunification process is going to be next to impossible it seems to me.”

Watch more:

President Trump says first lady Melania Trump was deliberately targeting the news media today by wearing a jacket with the words,”I really don’t care. Do U?” on the back. 

He tweeted:

Earlier Thursday, the first lady took a trip to the US-Mexico border to tour an immigrant children’s shelter. But the trip is getting attention not only for her action, but also for her wardrobe choice before and after the journey.

As the first lady boarded her plane from Andrews Air Force Base, she wore the olive green jacket with the white graffiti-style lettering. She was not wearing the jacket when she landed in McAllen, Texas. 

The first lady’s team insisted that there was no hidden meaning behind the sartorial choice.

“It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn’t going to choose to focus on her wardrobe,” East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN in a statement.

It’s been a day since President Trump signed an executive order to keep migrant parents and children together after they cross the US border. Here’s where things stand on immigration now:

What we know

 What we still don’t know

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar passionately warned her Republican colleagues Thursday that they need to push back forcefully against the anti-immigrant rhetoric used by President Trump.

Trump, in a speech Wednesday in her home state of Minnesota, said of illegal immigrants: “We are sending them the hell back.”

On Thursday, Klobuchar addressed Trump’s remarks during a meeting of the Judiciary Committee and urged Republicans to “be on the record condemning these words.” 

Several members of the Judiciary Committee, including Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Dick Durbin of Illinois are now negotiating a pair of bills to address the separation crisis and are hopeful they will be able to make progress on an issue that has stalled repeatedly in the past. 

The senators plans to meet Monday to continue their efforts, Feinstein said. 

Several states are planning to join a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its practice of separating families at the border.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who plans to file the lawsuit in Washington, is leading the charge against President Trump and his administration, which he alleges “violated the constitutional due process rights of the parents and children by separating them as a matter of course and without any finding that the parent poses a threat to the children,” according to a statement from his office.

New Jersey and California are among at least 10 states challenging the administration’s policy.

“Children belong with their families, not alone and fearful in metal cages. We are filing this lawsuit because ripping children from their parents is unlawful, wrong and heartless,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. 

The US attorney’s office for the Southern District of Texas says it did not dismiss any immigration violation cases in federal court in McAllen on Thursday.

“Media reports alleging SDTX cases were dropped or dismissed are inaccurate and misleading,” the US attorney’s office told CNN.

The hearings on Thursday were for 17 recently detained adults, all of whom were separated from their children after being detained by authorities this week. They were to be charged with illegal entry, and the court hearings were to pursue those criminal charges against them.

Margy Meyers, spokeswoman for the Houston Federal Public Defender’s office, told CNN their cases were removed from the court docket on Thursday.

CNN has reached back out to the US attorney’s office in Texas and has yet to hear back. 

Earlier, CNN’s Polo Sandoval, who’s in McAllen reported that 17 Central American men and women were brought in to a courtroom to be charged for illegal entry into the US. But that never happened.

Instead, the assistant US attorney dropped the charges against those men and women, without explanation. They were then transferred to a detention center.

An attorney and several sources told CNN their children were already taken away.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed the issue of family separations during an interview that will air on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club.

Sessions said: “What we intended to do, was to make sure that adults who bring children into the country are charged with the crime they have committed. Instead of giving that special group of adults immunity from prosecution, which is what, in effect, what we were doing. So I think it’s the right thing. We’ll work our way through it and try to do it in the most compassionate way possible.”

Some background: On May 7 — the day the policy was publicized — Sessions said, “So, if you cross the border, unlawfully, even a first offense, we’re gonna prosecute you … If you’re smuggling a child, we’re gonna prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you probably, as required by law. If you don’t want your child to be separated, then don’t bring them across the border illegally. It’s not our fault that somebody does that.”

Sessions interview with CBN will air on Friday and Monday.

The Department of Defense has received a request from the Department of Health and Human Services to be prepared to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied children on US military bases, according to a US Defense official.

Congress has been notified of the request by HHS, the official said. 

It is expected that DOD will fulfill this requested if required. 

Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Wednesday said the military will “support whatever” the Department of Homeland Security needs when it comes to housing undocumented immigrants. 

First lady Melania Trump has created by stir by wearing a jacket as she boarded her Air Force plane this morning with the printing “I really don’t care. Do U?” on the back.

She wore the olive-colored Zara jacket as she climbed out of her motorcade and onto the flight to McAllen, Texas. She did not wear the jacket at all during the trip in Texas.

The first lady’s communications director Stephanie Grisham, said:

“It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn’t going to choose to focus on her wardrobe.” 

The Justice Department sought to modify a federal court order Thursday that limits the ability of US officials to detain immigrant children longer than 20 days.

The move – part of its execution of President Trump’s new executive order to keep families together – will likely prove an uphill climb for DOJ officials, as the request has already previously been denied under the Obama administration.

Here’s the crux of the legal issue: It stems from a 1997 settlement agreement in Flores v. Reno and subsequent rulings limiting the detention of children to 20 days.

“Irrespective of the Court’s decision in Flores, it is incumbent for Congress to finally act to keep families together, end catch and release, and create the foundation for an immigration system that serves the national interest,”a DOJ spokesman said.  

DOJ lawyers want US District Court Judge Dolly Gee in California to modify that rule to give the Trump administration maximum flexibility to detain families — not only until their criminal proceedings conclude, but through the end of any asylum proceedings, which could potentially drag on for many months.

President Trump insisted the US requires a “very tough policy” on illegal immigration on Thursday when asked about a report his administration would stop prosecuting migrant parents who cross the border illegally.

He said unless the US has a strong border, “millions and millions” of undocumented immigrants would flood into the country.

“Without borders you don’t have a country,” he said.

Why Trump is addressing those concerns

CNN’s Polo Sandoval, who’s in McAllen, Texas, reported that 17 Central American men and women were brought in to a courtroom Thursday to be charged for illegal entry into the US. But that never happened.

Instead, the assistant US attorney dropped the charges against those men and women, without explanation. They were then transferred to a detention center.

An attorney and several sources told CNN their children were already taken away.

Attorney Carlos Garcia told CNN that he believes the administration’s new policy likely played a role in the decision in court today.

“They’re changing things on the fly,” Garcia said.

Whip Steve Scalise made the case for delaying the vote last night - and he lost the argument, per multiple aides. Paul Ryan knew where this was headed and just wanted to have the vote and move on.

But at the first vote series today, it became very clear that rank-and-file members were a mix of confused and uncomfortable with what they knew about the compromise bill.

Scalise seized on this and took it back to leadership and made the case again. For purely member management reasons — not eventual passage reasons — the decision was made to give it another day.

To be clear, there is no expectation this will pass tomorrow. This is about addressing member concerns (and little future leadership race gamesmanship too.)

As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives failed Thursday to pass an immigration bill that was favored by conservatives and known as the Goodlatte bill after House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

The vote was 193-231 (with 231 voting against it and 193 voting for it). 

With no Democrats voting for the bill, Republicans were going to need enough of their own members to get to a majority, but they failed to cross that threshold.

The House was originally scheduled to vote later this afternoon on the so-called compromise bill (the second of the two immigration bills), but CNN’s Hill team reports the vote will be delayed until tomorrow as Republicans take more time to consider the bill.

First lady Melania Trump’s plane has taken off from McAllen, Texas, after a short visit that included a stop at a children’s holding facility. 

She met with children at the facility, and with administrators. A second planned stop at a border facility was canceled due to flash flooding in the area. 

House leaders will brief the full GOP conference on the “compromise bill” — the more moderate of the two immigration bills in the House — later this afternoon, and a vote delay is likely, an aide tells CNN.

The House was expected to vote on the compromise bill later this afternoon.

Earlier today, the House voted to advance the more conservative immigration bill, known as the Goodlatte bill after House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

The vote, 226-195, with all Democrats voting against the resolution, was procedural, setting up the debate for the bill itself.

While the House voted to move forward with the bill, it is expected to fail in the final vote, which is scheduled to take place early this afternoon.

Melania Trump met with children in their classrooms as she toured the detention facility at Upbring New Hope Children’s Shelter.

In one room, located off a colorful hallway decorated with student art and dotted with solar system mobiles, Trump met with a group of girls, ages 12 to 17, as they studied math.

“Be kind and nice to each other, okay,” Trump said, as a student said something that prompted giggles. 

In a second math classroom, the first lady visited with boys, also aged 12 to 17. She asked them how old they are and how long they are here. 

“So you speak English so so? You learn it here?,” she asked the boys, but many of them perked up when she asked if they played soccer. 

The first lady walked to a third classroom where she was told girls’ were learning about Independence Day. Each girl sat at a round table and had a laptop at her seat. 

The girls’ presented the first lady with a paper American flag. Before departing, she signed the paper American flag.

A second planned stop by first lady Melania Trump on her visit to the border area in McAllen, Texas, has been canceled because of severe flooding.

Earlier today, Trump attended a roundtable briefing at Upbring New Hope, a child immigrant holding center, with doctors and medical staff, social workers and other experts on hand.

McAllen is under a flash flood emergency. The National Weather Service says 5 to 7 inches of rain have fallen in the area, and there could be up to 2 more inches of rain in the warned area.

Here’s the flooding warning map:

Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter to President Trump, demanding the administration address family reunification immediately.

Over the past week, President Trump has made baseless claims against Democrats for what is happening at the border.

While Trump yesterday signed an executive order to keep more immigrant families together, it doesn’t address the more than 2,300 children already separated from their parents.

The Democrats said any plan from Trump must end the “zero-tolerance” policy that led to the family separations and take action to bring families back together.

Here’s the full letter:

President Trump continued blaming Democrats for the humanitarian crisis on the US border, saying they refuse to approve new funds for detention facilities for children.

He said the executive action he signed on Wednesday was limited in its scope, and ultimately wouldn’t end the separations.

“That’s only limited,” he said. “It leads to separation ultimately.”

He said some of the children coming to the US are arriving with “coyotes” and human traffickers, and said “the Democrat-supported policies … allowed this to happen.”

He said Democrats didn’t want to provide enough money to make life comfortable for the detained minors.

He said Democrats were invited to come to the White House this afternoon to discuss immigration.

President Trump said the facilities where some migrant children are being held are the “nicest that people have seen.”

“We have a situation where some of these places, they’re really running them well. And I give a lot of credit to Secretary Nielsen and all the people that have worked. It’s the nicest that people have seen. But it’s still something that shouldn’t be taking place.”

He compared the facilities today to ones under former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“You look back at 2014, during the Obama administration. They have pictures that were so bad.”

President Trump slammed “extremist, open-border Democrats” at the opening of his remarks during his cabinet meeting moments ago.

“That’s what they are – extremist, open-border Democrats.”

Trump accused Democrats of creating “a massive child smuggling industry,” which he called a disgrace. The US, Trump said, has “the worst immigration laws in the history of the world. The whole world is laughing at the United States and they have been for years.”

Trump has made baseless claims against Democrats over the past week for the border crisis.

Melania Trump is touring the Upbring New Hope Children’s Center in McAllen, Texas. This is not one of the so-called “tender age” facilities, which hold children younger than 5 years old.

Here are the facts behind the facility Trump is at right now:

First lady Melania Trump is in Texas visiting a child detention center near the US-Mexico border. She just asked staffers their about the kind of communication children are allowed to have with their families.

“How many times they speak with their relatives or families per week, for example?” she asked.

Here’s how they responded:

“The children are allowed to communicate with their family twice a week. They get a 10-minute phone call. But first we have to ensure that the persons that they’re contacting, their families, are indeed their families, so there is a process.”

About this detention center:

The facility Trump is visiting mostly houses children ages 12 to 17. Most of them are unaccompanied, not separated from their families.

First lady Melania Trump, speaking during a unannounced visit to a child detention center near the US-Mexico border, thanked the social workers for their “hard work and compassion,” and asked what she could do to help reunite the children with their families “as quickly as possible.”

Here’s her full statement:

Thank you so much for having me here today. I’m glad I’m here and I’m looking forward to seeing the children. But first of all, let me begin to recognize each of you and thanking you for all that you do, for your heroic work that you do every day and what you do for those children. We all know they’re here without their families, and I want to thank you for your hard work, your compassion and your kindness you’re giving them in these difficult times. I’m here to learn about your facility, which I know you house children on a long-term basis. And I would also like to ask you how I can help these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible. So thank you again for all that you do, and thank you as well. Thank you, all, for what you do.

Watch her remarks:

The House voted to advance an immigration bill Thursday that is favored by conservatives and known as the Goodlatte bill, after House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

The vote, 226-195, with all Democrats voting against the resolution, was procedural, setting up the debate for the bill itself.

While the House voted to move forward with the bill, it is expected to fail in the final vote, which is scheduled to take place early this afternoon. 

The first lady just arrived in McAllen, Texas, where she is visiting a detention facility for children.

She is receiving a briefing right now.

The First Lady’s Communications Director Stephanie Grisham just issued a statement on the surprise border visit:

“First Lady Melania Trump has arrived in Texas to take part in briefings and tours at a nonprofit social services center for children who have entered the United States illegally and a customs and border patrol processing center. Her goals are to thank law enforcement and social services providers for their hard work, lend support and hear more on how the administration can build upon the already existing efforts to reunite children with their families.”

First Lady Melania Trump just arrived at a child detention center in McAllen, Texas and is expected to tour the Lutheran Social Services of the South, a facility with about 60 children, approximately half male, half female ranging from 5 to 17 years old. The children there are mostly teenagers, but some are tender age. 

The facility is permanent and is run by an HHS grantee, and HHS runs and regulates it. She’s expected to hold a roundtable discussion with doctors and social workers, who will tell her about the services they provide (meals, education, healthcare, psychological services), then she’ll tour that facility. 

The trip came together extremely quickly — within 48 hours — and the first lady took the initiative to travel herself, directing her office to set up the visit. 

Trump was moved by the images and sounds of the children separated from their parents, and sought to see an unfiltered view of the situation on the ground. “The images struck her as a mother, as a human being, and also as a first lady,” Grisham said, adding, “She wanted to see as close to what she had been seeing on TV. She wants to see what’s real, she wants to see a realistic view of what’s happening.” 

A group of protesters are staging a demonstation at the US Capitol, as the House is set to begin voting on two immigration proposals.

The kids are wrapped in emergency thermal blankets, similar to the ones given to migrants taken into custody after crossing the US border. There’s at least one cage among the group, an apparent reference to the chain-link fences some migrants have been kept behind. Some are yelling “shame” in unison.

LA RED (Liberation Action Respect Equity Dignity)/Faith in Action is putting on the demonstration to protest the “cruel treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.”

The organization’s director Richard Morales and his 10-year-old son are leading the demonstration.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he wants to see officials put families “at the head of the queue” for immigration court proceedings.

The comment came after a reporter asked about the compromise bill currently being whipped in the House, asking Ryan, “How long is it humane to hold children, even if they’re with their parents?”

Here’s what Ryan said:

He added: “I don’t think Americans want to see an open border. We want to see a secure border. We want to enforce our immigration laws, and we want to keep families together.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was asked by CNN’s Tal Kopan if the government has a plan to reunite children who have already been separated from their parents. 

Here’s how Nielsen replied:

“We have a plan to do that, as you know we do it on the back end. So a combination of DHS, DOJ, HHS reuniting as quickly as we can. But don’t forget the vast majority of those kids are [unaccompanied and separated children], so we have to find them someone.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says 239 migrant children are in the care of Cayuga Centers in Harlem. He visited the shelter yesterday.

The workers at the facility are “trying their best” to help the children, de Blasio said. However, he added that the kids still face significant emotional trauma and even physical health challenges.

“The kids — because they were held in group facilities when they came across the border — some have lice, some have bed bugs, chicken pox, all sorts of contagious situations, and, you know, just think of the chaos of all this. Both what the kids are going through emotionally, mentally, but also, you know, kids who unfortunately contracted some kind of disease and are being sent to where a whole bunch of other kids are. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

Watch more:

The California couple who started a campaign on Facebook to reunite immigrant families has now raised more than $16 million for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education an Legal Services (RAICES), according to the fundraising page.

Dave and Charlotte Willner are continuing their efforts in light of the President’s recent reversal on separating families.

Here’s what they said in a statement:

“This is a reminder of the power we have when we all stand together against injustice and now RAICES’ work becomes more important than ever. However, a change in policy doesn’t automatically reunite these innocent children with their families or erase the trauma our government inflicted. These families will need legal representation, counseling and other crucial services that RAICES will be able to provide to more people and at a greater and faster scale than ever before because of these funds.”

They also urge donations to other organizations as Facebook permits one beneficiary per fundraiser.

Speaking at the National Security Forum on Capitol Hill hosted by a group of bipartisan lawmakers, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen addressed the President’s executive order yesterday, saying it was an attempt to not sacrifice American ideals in the name of law enforcement.

But she once again reiterated the administration wants to see Congress act. 

There was no follow-up question by Republican Rep. Mike McCaul, who is interviewing her. He turned to terrorism-related questions.

 “What the President did yesterday is make clear that what we don’t need to do as Americans is pit the enforcement of the law against our humanitarian ideas, we need to try to do both at the same time,” Nielsen said.

“Congress has the authority and responsibility to make the law of the land and fix the immigration system,” she continued. “We have done everything we can do in the executive branch to both secure our borders and protect our ideals … but we need Congress to act.”

President Trump yesterday signed an executive order to keep more immigrant families together. But it doesn’t address the more than 2,300 children already separated from their parents.

The US’s sponsorship process — which finds friends, relatives or other suitable volunteers in the US for children in government custody — is built mainly for children who come to the US illegally alone. It does not include any procedures for proactively reuniting children with parents who brought them to the US and may be in government custody (though theoretically once released from custody a parent could apply to sponsor their child’s release).

In short: We’re not really sure when — or how — children in US custody will be reunited with their parents.

For now, hundreds of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents have been transferred thousands of miles away from the border.

While some are in shelters and facilities across Texas, others have been sent to places as far away as New York City.

Here are some of the states where they have been sent:

In a sparsely furnished migrant shelter a few miles south of the border with McAllen, Texas, little Joan Flores ran around pretending to wear a bulletproof vest.

The fantasy game started in his native El Salvador, after the 7-year-old boy had seen members of a gang known as the “Exterminations” fatally shoot a man in the eye outside his family’s home, according to his mother.

“My country is no place for children – no place for my son,” Patricia Flores, 27, said Wednesday. “I don’t want him to grow up like that.”

Here at the Senda de Vida (Path of Life) shelter, many of the 50 or so migrants contemplating their next moves seemed undeterred by a Trump administration zero tolerance policy that resulted in thousands of family separations.

“It’s been too long a journey to give up now,” said Flores, who has been at the shelter two weeks after having been turned away twice at the border bridge by US immigration authorities.

Read her story here.

Today the House will vote on two broad immigration proposals: a proposal long backed by conservatives that takes a hard-line position on dealing with DACA, border security and cutting legal immigration, and a second negotiated by moderates, leadership and conservatives over the last few weeks.

The latter provides $25 billion for the border wall, and creates a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients through visa cuts to other elements of legal immigration, including eliminating the diversity visa lottery and limiting family visas. 

Leadership (and the Trump administration) has been whipping this bill hard over the last few days, meaning they want the votes to help it pass. They view it as the only bill that has a chance to pass.

But here’s the thing: Barring some major shift in momentum, both of those proposals are headed toward failure. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but as of last night, the path forward wasn’t clear.

Despite an all-out blitz from the Trump administration — including personal, face-to-face entreaties from the President himself to skeptical House Republicans — to lock in the votes, there is still significant work to do to get one across the finish line, according to multiple senior aides and lawmakers. 

Bottom line: There will be a real-time, on the record display of President Trump’s lobbying sway on the House floor in a few hours. By all accounts Republicans enter the day still short of the votes. Here’s a simple frame of this day: Does the President have the juice to turn it around on his own? 

President Trump has repeatedly, and falsely, blamed Democrats for the crisis at the border. Today, the House will vote on two separate immigration bills, but Trump has said Democrats will obstruct any movement on those.

Here’s what he tweeted this morning, hours before the House holds a vote:

The Trump administration’s policy that effectively separated families crossing the US border has held up a big, glaring mirror to America’s moral character.

In Time magazine’s latest cover, the reflection is met with indifference in the face of human suffering.

In the stark photo illustration, the towering figure of Trump looms over a sobbing child, who is the subject of a now-iconic photograph taken recently by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer John Moore.

“Welcome to America,” the illustration reads.

Moore told the magazine he had to “stop and take deep breaths” after capturing the image of a two-year-old Honduran girl crying for her mother, who was being detained in McAllen, Texas.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection now says that any children “still in Border Patrol custody” will be reunited with their families after the adults are prosecuted.

This statement, issued this morning by a CBP spokesperson, follows a Health and Human Services statement yesterday saying the executive order doesn’t affect children in its custody, which itself walked back last night by HHS to say it’s still early and that they were awaiting guidance.  

One thing to note: It is extremely unlikely that any of the more than 2,300 children already separated before June 9 will be impacted by this new policy, as those parents are likely to already be in ICE custody post-prosecution, and kids should only be in CBP custody for up to 72 hours.

This, then, would seem to impact new arrivals. 

It’s also important to note that this statement makes clear that going forward, families will not be separated – except when it’s deemed necessary. That’s the old status quo before “zero tolerance.”

Here’s the full statement:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken immediate steps to implement the President’s Executive Order Affording Congress the Opportunity to Address Family Separation. Family unity will be maintained for families apprehended crossing the border illegally, and they will be transferred together to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Border Patrol will continue to refer for prosecution adults who cross the border illegally. For those children still in Border Patrol custody, we are reuniting them with parents or legal guardians returned to Border Patrol custody following prosecution. As specified in the order, families will not be detained together when doing so would pose a risk to the child’s welfare. Additionally, as was the case prior to implementation of the zero tolerance policy on May 5, family units may be separated due to humanitarian, health and safety, or criminal history in addition to illegally crossing the border.

The Department of Health and Human Services walked back comments tonight that a spokesperson made earlier about the reunification of undocumented families who have been separated at the southern border.

Earlier today, HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe told CNN that President Trump’s executive order had not changed anything in terms of family reunification of undocumented families.

“For the minors currently in the unaccompanied alien children program, the sponsorship process will proceed as usual,” Wolfe said.

Now, HHS says the spokesperson misspoke.

“Reunification is always the ultimate goal of those entrusted with the care of UACs (unaccompanied alien children), and the administration is working towards that for those UACs currently in HHS custody,” he added.

President Trump’s executive order has not changed anything in terms of reunification of undocumented families who have been separated at the southern border, a Health and Human Services official confirmed Wednesday.

The order does not speak to any families that have already been separated — and existing policies place the onus on parents to find their children in HHS custody and seek to reunite with them.

The bottom line: There are no new special procedures for those children.

The White House just wrapped up a call briefing the media on the executive order President Trump just signed — repeatedly declining to answer questions about how the order will be implemented, what it means for currently separated families and why the administration changed its mind on being able to do anything to keep families together.

In a call with reporters, Gene Hamilton, who is counselor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also repeatedly said that the only long-term option supported by the administration is Congressional action, saying the President supports both bills being considered by the House on Thursday.

While Hamilton said the order would have “immediate effect,” he demurred on what, exactly, it would be, citing that the order acknowledges that implementation will be subject to what resources are available.

“There will be an implementation phase that follows. Certainly (Department of Homeland Security and (Health and Human Services) will be working and collaborating closely on the best way to implement this executive order,” Hamilton said.

He similarly ducked a question about whether families would still be separated, whether they will be released from custody as they were before, or what will happen to the families currently separated. He also acknowledged that as long as the court settlement the administration is seeking to overturn stands, they cannot detain families longer than 20 days.

President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that he said would keep undocumented immigrant families together when they are detained at the southern border.

Here is what the executive order does (or you can read the order here):

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking to reporters, stands by her comments from the White House briefing this week where she said “only Congress” can fix the situation at the border in light of Trump signing the executive order.

“Only Congress can act to secure the border, yes I do,” she said when I asked if she stood by her comments. “We need to change the law so I have the authority to secure the border for the American people.”

“We have court cases that prohibit us from keeping families together,” she added.

Nielsen didn’t explain how to reconcile that statement with the fact that Trump just signed an EO.

In a private meeting with House Republicans, Nielsen did not acknowledge any mistakes or mishandling of situation at border. She laid out how the immigration bills House Republicans are pushing are consistent with Trump’s policies.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy issued a scathing statement that warns Americans to “not be fooled” by President Trump’s executive order, which would keep families together at the border.

“After weeks of false and conflicting justifications for requiring that children be torn from their parents at the border, the President backed down,” he said.

Read his full statement:

Today the American people, through their forceful and justified outrage, proved that people, joining together, can drive positive change even during the Trump administration. After weeks of false and conflicting justifications for requiring that children be torn from their parents at the border, the President backed down. But we must not be fooled. We need to ensure that the 2,500 children already separated are promptly reunited with their families. We must be clear that mass incarceration of families is not the answer — alternatives exist that have proven to be effective, less costly, and more humane. And the Attorney General needs to restore discretion to our federal prosecutors along the border. With limited resources, it makes absolutely no sense to delay civil immigration proceedings in order to criminally prosecute migrants with no criminal records, who pose no threat, and who are only seeking refuge from unimaginable violence and terror in their home countries. The President may cynically assert that protecting our borders requires abhorrent treatment of immigrant children and their parents. But that is as wrong as it is un-American. The President owns this.

A nine-month-old is one of 239 children at a shelter in Harlem as a result of the Trump administration’s policy that has lead to family separations, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday afternoon.

De Blasio, who toured the Cayuga Centers shelter before addressing the media, said more than 350 children had already been through the facility and questioned how this many children could be at just one facility without the city government being aware. 

This is a day facility where children are in classes, he noted. The children are in individual foster homes.

Some of the children have bed bugs, lice, chicken pox and other physical and contagious diseases, he said. Some children are too young to communicate and are need of significant mental health services, he added.

President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, just tweeted about her father’s executive order to keep families together at the border.

According to several lawmakers, Trump told them that Ivanka had encouraged him to stop family separations. She also called House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine after a meeting with House Republicans on Tuesday night.

Here’s Ivanka’s tweet:

President Trump said the first lady and his eldest daughter feel “very strongly” about the issue of border separations.

Both Ivanka Trump and Melania Trump reportedly urged Trump to take action to end family separations

Several members of Congress said Trump the first daughter encouraged him to stop border separations and even called lawmakers about the issue. And Melania Trump had worked for several days behind the scenes, encouraging the President to keep families together, a White House official tells CNN. 

Here’s Trump’s comments from moments ago:

President Trump said he isn’t backing down by signing an executive order to end the separation of families at the border, despite days of of mounting political pressure as he and his aides insisted their hands were tied. 

Trump suggested there may be some litigation related to the order, and referenced potential immigration legislation, saying, “We may go through Congress.”

Still, he maintained that “a lot of good things are happening. But we have to have strong borders and ultimately we want to see it done right. But what we have done today is keeping families together.” 

As to what may have driven him to sign this executive order to end family separations after days of calling on Congress to act, President Trump said: “I didn’t like the sight or feeling of families being separated.”

“So we’re keeping families together and this will solve that problem at the same we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance,” he said.

But Trump stood firm on his “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

Trump said the order would lead to “a lot of happy people.”

President Trump has signed an executive order “about keeping families together while ensuring we have a powerful border.”

“We are keeping families together,” Trump said from the Oval Office while flanked by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence.

“This will solve that problem. At the same time, we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance. We have zero tolerance for people who enter our country illegally,” he said.

What just happened: President Donald Trump officially reversed his debunked argument that he had no authority to stop separations of undocumented immigrant families at the border.

Trump’s climbdown came after he faced intense pressure from across the political spectrum and from religious, political and world leaders to halt the separations, which produced days of heart-rending news coverage of crying children some of whom were kept in cage-like detention centers.

Watch the signing and remarks:

American Airlines and United Airlines both told the federal government to stop using their planes to transport children who have been separated from their families at the US-Mexico border, after a Facebook post went viral claiming they were doing just that.

American said it has no way of knowing for sure whether its aircraft has been used to transport migrant children who have been separated from their families, and United said research failed to reveal any evidence separated children were being flown on their planes.

Still, stories of distressed migrant children being transported on airplanes were spreading, and the airlines chose to respond.

How the government is responding: The Department of Homeland Security criticized the airlines’ requests to not partner with the agency, saying the partnership was a way to “swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families.” Tyler Houlton, press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, also tweeted, “Despite being provided facts on this issue, these airlines clearly do not understand our immigration laws and the long-standing devastating loopholes that have caused the crisis at our southern border.”

How all of this started

The news coverage of the border crisis and family separations has included stories of wailing cries from children asking for their parents, harsh living conditions and understaffed facilities, sparking waves of outrage against the policy.

But then a Facebook post began circulating last week that claims to be the story of a flight attendant on an unnamed airline who watched 16 migrant children dressed in Walmart sweats board a flight from Arizona to Miami just after midnight.

CNN has not confirmed the veracity of the Facebook claim.

A source familiar with the upcoming executive order on family separations says it will not end the “zero-tolerance” policy that is prompting the border separations.

It will be more narrowly focused on ending the family separations by allowing families to be detained together.

This source noted that it’s not yet clear how the families that are currently separated will be reunited.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the family separations happening on the US-Mexico border “wrong” and said it’s not how Canada would handle the situation.

An executive order allowing families to stay together could pose a legal problem for the administration if it decides to detain families as units.

Indefinite detention of minors would violated the Flores Settlement because it requires release to the “least restrictive environment” within 20 days.

If the President acts, it will be challenged immediately.

For instance, the parties that secured the Flores Consent decree would go back to the district court and argue that the government is in violation of the court order.

Former President Barack Obama marked World Refugee Day with a lengthy Facebook post about the border crisis happening in the US right now.

“To watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?” Obama wrote.

The former President said all Americans, no matter where their families came from, “are only here because this country welcomed them in.”

“To be an American is to have a shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve the chance to become something better,”

President Trump, speaking with members of Congress at the White House, addressed the border crisis, saying he would sign something soon that keeps families together.

However, he said if a President is “weak,” then “millions” of people could pour into the country.

This came in response to Sen. Lindsey Graham calling the immigration policy “a mess.”

First lady Melania Trump has been working for several days behind the scenes, encouraging the President to keep families together, a White House official tells CNN.

Melania has had several private conversations with her husband, pushing him to do all he can to keep families at the border intact, whether via a legislative route, or acting alone to stop the process. 

Earlier this week, Melania made a rare statement on a a policy issue to address the immigration crisis.

“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.” 

Justice Department officials have been huddled up since this morning, working on executive order for the President to sign that will address the separation of families, according to a source familiar with the plans.

This is the typical process with executive orders, as it requires a number of moving parts legally and the input of the Office of Legal Counsel. 

What exactly the EO will say is still being worked out, with ongoing conversations between the White House, the Justice Department and Homeland Security, the source said.

While Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not at the meeting at the White House, his chief of staff has been there to represent the Justice Department, the source added. 

Additionally, a senior administration official tells CNN that Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen has been at the White House all morning in the room with the President and key staff, calling her a “key player” who was urging for action to be taken.

The administration is still pushing for congressional action, the senior official said, and is looking at the Flores settlement, which prohibits children with their families from being detained longer than 20 days.

“We want the ability to be able to detain and remove families swiftly,” the official said, declining to go into details of the order.

President Trump hinted moments ago that he could soon issue an executive action that deals with the crisis of separated families at the southern border.

White House aides had refused to comment on rumors of an executive order prior to Trump’s unscheduled remarks to reporters, and Republicans on Capitol Hill seemingly had no knowledge of a coming executive action.

Trump and the White House have instead been pushing GOP lawmakers this week to pass legislation that deals with immigration reform.

President Donald Trump indicated he would take action shortly to both improve security on the border and help keep families together, speaking briefly with reporters Wednesday.

He would be taking “preemptive” action as the White House and lawmakers scramble to deal with fallout over the administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

Liduvina Magarin, El Salvador’s minister for Salvadorians abroad, said the country’s government is asking the US to stop border separations.

“As a government we reiterate our call on the United States to cease the separation of boys and girls from their families at the border. Along with consuls of Honduras and Guatemala we are making a coordinated effort to give attention to the migrant population of these countries, detained on the southern border of the United States.” 

The House GOP is planning to vote tomorrow on the two broad immigration bills. They are currently well short of the votes needed to pass the more moderate leadership version, and they are still whipping.

House Republicans, at the moment, are not considering a targeted fix to the issue. Speaker Paul Ryan said they’ll cross that bridge if they come to it. 

Meanwhile, senators are working on a targeted bill. Sen. Thom Tillis is leading the way. That’s likely to look a lot like what House Republicans have in their broad bill:

Senate Democrats haven’t shown any real willingness to get on board with that proposal, so there’s not clear path forward in the Senate still. 

There’s been a lot of focus on immigration at the US’s southern border, but the issue of immigration doesn’t stop there.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently detaining 123 men at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.

At least seven of the men may have been separated from their families, ICE said — including at least one man from China. However, ICE officials said they could not verify any of the family separations. 

Of the detainees, 52 come from India and 18 from Nepal.

Here’s the full breakdown:

The Trump administration’s hardline immigration measures — including the zero-tolerance policy that has caused the separation of migrant children and parents at the border — are largely a product of the White House immigration czar, Stephen Miller.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Miller used to work for, formalized the policy and carried it out.

As Trump’s immigration adviser, Miller authored the administration’s deeply controversial travel bans (There have been three revisions of the policy, and the legality of the last is currently under consideration by the US Supreme Court).

That order — and the harsh immigration policies Miller has been behind since — are perfectly in line with what Miller has talking about since he was 16 years old.

According to people who went to Santa Monica High School with Miller, the Trump aide made a name for himself touting his conservative views.

In March 2002, Miller, then age 16, wrote a lengthy opinion editorial for the Santa Monica Lookout that argued “very few, if any, Hispanic students” make it to honors classes because the school provides a “crutch” to those who don’t speak English by ensuring “all announcements are written in both Spanish and English.”

After high school, Miller attended Duke University, where he again became an outspoken conservative voice. Writing for the Duke Chronicle, Miller, who is Jewish, penned articles about…

After college, Miller worked for then-Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. John Shadegg and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions. Miller helped Sessions become the most outspoken critic of the 2013 bipartisan Gang of Eight immigration reform bill.

Miller has been with Trump since January 2016 and served as his hype man for much of the primary and general election.

The Associated Press reports that infants and toddlers separated from their families are being held in three so-called “tender age” shelters at the border.

CNN’s Polo Sandoval is reporting from outside what is believed to be one of them.

“A fairly nondescript building,” he said of the Combes, Texas, facility. “Behind the relatively tall wall, though, there is a small playground.”

About 60 children, ages 10 and under, are housed at the facility. It’s unclear how many of them were brought to the shelter as a result of President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.

Watch more:

There are two bills currently in the House. House Speaker Paul Ryan said they are voting on one of them tomorrow.

But what happens if it doesn’t pass? Ryan said the legislation is already his Plan B.

“This bill is plan B for us to begin with,” Ryan said. “We are focused on getting the bill passed, and the President came to our conference and asked members to support this bill, and that is our focus.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House will vote on a bill tomorrow that ends family separations and solves DACA.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said tomorrow the House will vote on legislation that would keep families together.

“We are going to take action to keep families together while we enforce our immigration laws,” Ryan said.

According to Ryan, under this bill, when people are prosecuted for illegally crossing the border, families would remain together in Department of Homeland Security custody “throughout the length of their legal proceedings.”

He added that DHS would also get monetary support to keep families together.

President Trump again falsely blamed the border crisis on the Democrats — and said he is “working on something.”

He did not elaborate on what “something” could be. But yesterday, the White House said Trump supports immigration bills that House Republicans have been working on (although one lawmaker said Trump’s meeting with them didn’t “move the ball.”)

Here’s the tweet:

This isn’t new rhetoric: The President has repeatedly, and falsely, blamed the Democrats for the border crisis.

He accused the Democrats yesterday of wanting migrants to “infest our country,” turning a speech that was supposed to focus on the economy into an angry tirade defending his harsh immigration stance.

Trump directly (also erroneously) blamed the Democrats last week for the separation of families at the US border.

Part of the US-Mexico border is under a flash flood emergency, an area in Texas that includes processing detention centers for undocumented immigrants.

“This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!” the National Weather Service said in an alert announcing the emergency, which includes Hidalgo, McAllen and Harlingen.

Nearly a foot of rain has fallen between McAllen and Harlingen according to radar estimates over the past couple of days

“Hidalgo County emergency management reported multiple vehicles submerged under water due to heavy rain from thunderstorms over portions of southeast Hidalgo County. 4 to 6 inches of rain have fallen,” the National Weather Service said this morning.

Here’s what the radar looks like:

President Trump is tweeting about immigration this morning, blaming Democrats for not strengthening immigration laws and the media for “not mentioning the safety and security of our Country.”

Here’s the tweet:

The President made similar comments about the media yesterday at a small business event, when he claimed the press is helping “smugglers” and “traffickers.”

You can watch that moment in the clip below:

President Trump has been blaming Democrats for the separation of families at the US border. This is a response he’s repeatedly made to criticism his administration has faced since it adopted a policy that results in far more children being separated from their parents. Read more about that here.

Pope Francis has added his voice to those criticizing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that has resulted in the separation of families at the Mexican border.

In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters at his Vatican residence published on Wednesday, Francis said he supported the statements made by US Catholic bishops, who called the separation of children from their parents “immoral” and “contrary to our Catholic values.”

“I am on the side of the bishops’ conference,” Francis told Reuters, referring to those statements. “It’s not easy, but populism is not the solution,” he added.

Congressional leaders in both the Senate and the House have spent days trying to find a bill that would end family separations at the border, but as of this morning, it’s not clear if any option has the votes to pass.

Here’s where things stand:

In the Senate

Senate Republicans are attempting to coalesce around legislation to address the family separation policy in a narrow, targeted way. 

Senate Democrats are opposed to the effort entirely because it’s something Trump can on his own.

In the House

House Republicans are trying desperately to wrangle the votes on a broad overhaul of the immigration system that includes a path to address the family separations. They still don’t have the votes — and even if they get them, the bill has no pathway to passage in the Senate. 

House Republicans have been working on two immigration bills, one more conservative measure and one more moderate. Both now include language to address family separations.

The bottom line

For all of the legislative churn in both chambers, there’s no pathway to a solution of any kind for the family separation issue at the moment. And none hanging out there in wait. Given the issue has become a flashpoint for outrage across both Capitol Hill and the country, that’s a problem.

Central America is reacting to the White House’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in separations of undocumented parents and kids.

This is what they are saying:

The Guatemalan government removed its official spokesperson from his position Tuesday after he took a more neutral tone regarding the current situation on the border, according to a government statement.

Earlier today, Heinz Hiemann compared the current situation with the former presidency of Barack Obama.

But the Guatemalan government said Hiemann’s remarks don’t represent the views of its president.

“With regards to the statements made by Mr. Hiemann on the migratory situation on the southern border of the United States, they don’t represent the position of the President of the Republic, Jimmy Morales Cabrera,” the government said in the statement.

The decision takes effect immediately, according to the statement.

President Trump tweeted Tuesday night that he thought Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen “did a fabulous job” at a White House press briefing this week.

The tweet comes after Trump complimented Nielsen on her performance during the briefing in a closed door meeting with House Republicans on Tuesday.

Ivanka Trump met with her father, President Trump, Tuesday on the topic of family separations at the southern border, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told CNN, confirming the President’s remarks behind closed doors. 

Republican lawmakers told CNN earlier that the President said Ivanka spoke to him about the images of families being separated on the US-Mexico border.

“He mentioned that his daughter Ivanka had encouraged him to end this, and he said he does recognize that it needs to end and the images are painful and he’s looking for a legislative solution,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo said. “He discussed the optics and the policy itself and I think he’s not comfortable with either.”

Demonstrators in Philadelphia rallied against family separations on Tuesday afternoon near an event hosting a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence was scheduled to attend a Republican Governors Association event.

Some protesters left children’s shoes at Rittenhouse Square to symbolize the separation of children from their parents. Other demonstrators carried signs like this child:

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged the Trump administration to end the policy of separating accompanied minors from their parents in a message sent to all US employees Tuesday.

Dimon said “immigration has been a critical part of America’s economic and cultural vitality,” adding that his heart goes out to the families.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said President Trump supports both House immigration bills and the message Tuesday night was to get one to his desk.

Scalise says they will be gathering support Tuesday night for the House compromise bill — the more moderate of two House immigration proposals. He said the compromise bill has a “better chance of passing.”

President Trump only talked about separating kids from their families in the context of political optics — not the actual policy, according to a GOP member.

He told GOP members, who attended a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill Tuesday, that “the crying babies doesn’t look good politically,” the member said.

This member said the President did not convince him to vote for the leadership bill because he never actually said he supported it. 

He just kept saying that he supports both House bills. 

The member continued: “I don’t want to be set up again like I was with the Omnibus. He said he supported it then threw us all under the bus.”

The speech was mostly his greatest hits about how popular he is. He even reprised his line about being able to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, indicating that’s how popular he is. 

He also chastised them for not supporting him enough, saying some red State Democrats treat him better than some of the House Republicans.

Ivanka Trump spoke to her father about the images of families being separated at the southern border, President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday evening.

“He mentioned Ivanka talked to him about that,” Rep. Chris Collins. said. “His daughter had seen the images and said for a lot of reasons we should be dealing with this. And that is what this bill does.”

Rep. Carlos Curbelo also said Trump mentioned being approached by Ivanka on family separations. 

“He mentioned that his daughter Ivanka had encouraged him to end this and he said he does recognize that it needs to end and the images are painful and he’s looking for a legislative solution. I support both a legislative solution and the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice ending this practice,” Curbelo said. 

But asked if he acknowledged he could change the policy or said he would, Curbelo said “no.”

Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said the President endorsed both immigration bills, but it was clear that he was backing the compromise bill. 

“I think he was supportive of the compromise bill, he said he was behind it 1,000%, now whether that meant he was behind the compromise bill 1,000% or behind whatever we can pass 1,000%, either or, you can see it both ways, but he’s certainly supportive of both bills,” Meadows said, adding he was talking about things that are only in the compromise bill, so it was clear he backs it.”

But he didn’t say he guaranteed passage. 

“There’s not a whole lot of room for error,” Meadows said, noting you have a handful of members on either side who are going to be opposed no matter what. 

The House compromise bill — the more moderate of two House immigration proposals — will include a revised provision to address family separation, according to a House Republican source familiar with negotiations.

He did say Trump may have changed some minds. 

“Based on my discussions with some of the members on the floor, I think there were members who were leaning no that are now leaning yes.”

A Republican member from a red state told CNN that it was nice to see President Trump but the meeting “didn’t move the ball.”  

The member goes on to say that they know immigration is a problem — they are looking for a leader. That didn’t happen.

A leadership source said the meeting was not helpful for the prospects of passing either immigration bill.

A Freedom Caucus source was even harsher.

The White House just issued a statement on President Trump’s meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday evening.

“The President spoke to the House Republican conference on a range of issues,” White House spokesman Raj Shah in a statement.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members yelled at President Trump as he left a meeting on Capitol Hill with Republican leadership.

One member yelled, “Mr. President, don’t you have kids? Don’t you have kids, Mr. President?”

Watch the moment: 

Departing his meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, President Trump spoke briefly, saying he had a “great meeting.”

As he departed he was speaking with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader. He was accompanied by chief of staff John Kelly, top aide Johnny DeStefano, social media director Dan Scavino, and policy adviser Stephen Miller.

Watch the moment:

President Trump told House Republican leaders that they need to pass an immigration bill during a meeting on Capitol Hill Tuesday evening, according to a person in the room.

Trump didn’t explicitly say he supports the House compromise bill — the more moderate of two House immigration proposals, the source said. Trump also briefly addressed family separation and said he understands the photos are not good. He said they’re working on it, the source said.

Trump also complimented Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on her performance at the White House press briefing room yesterday during the Capitol Hill meeting, according to someone in the room. 

He told House Republicans that all the focus is on the administration and said “we have to pass one of these bills — the public is watching.” 

He said they must secure the border. 

Demonstrators gathered on Tuesday afternoon outside the Department of Homeland Security office in San Francisco to protest the practice of separating families at the border.

Sam Leff attended the protest and took the video below.

While giving a speech on the Senate floor about the situation at the border, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez played an audio from ProPublica of crying children at a detention center.

He played the audio off his phone, which he held to his lapel microphone. 

It’s an unusual move and might be against Senate rules. Menendez said he didn’t know if he was permitted to play the audio.

Asked about his decision to play the dramatic audio as he left the Senate floor, the New Jersey lawmaker told CNN, “Desperate times call for desperate measures. And if we can’t prick the conscience of our colleagues with our words than maybe the cries of children will.”

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said he will not deploy National Guard personnel, equipment or other resources to the southern border.

Dayton said he is urging President Trump to “immediately end federal immigration policies that separate children from their families on the U.S.-Mexico border.”

Dayton joined a growing list of states that pulled or refused to its National Guard members to the southern border. The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware on Tuesday recalled, or declined to send, their guard members.

Why the National Guard: In April, President Trump signed a memorandum to deploy the National Guard to the southwest border. The Pentagon said the troops would “act in support of Border Patrol agents who are performing law enforcement duties.”

Since then, a number of states, including New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, said they would not participate in the effort.

There are currently about 2,000 members of the National Guard operating across four border states – Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas – according to Kurt M. Rauschenberg, National Guard Bureau Spokesman.

Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan wouldn’t say President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings, which has led to children being separated from their parents, is humane Tuesday, only saying, “I think it’s the law.”

When asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” Tuesday if the policy, which has dominated headlines for much of the last few days after images of children in cages were released, Homan wouldn’t say yes.

“I think, I think it’s the law,” Homan said after a pause when asked whether the policy was humane.

When pressed, Homan hesitated and said “I think it’s the law and I’m in law enforcement and I must follow the law.”

Homan went on to call parents who give their children to smugglers to bring them across the border into the US “inhumane.”

“If you want to blame someone for separating families, blame the parents who choose to break the law,” Homan said.

Watch:

President Trump said he was working to repair a damaged immigration system as he entered talks with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“So the system has been broken for many years, the immigration system, it’s been a really bad, bad system,” he said walking into a meeting with the House Republican conference.

Watch:

A dozen Republican senators sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and called on him to stop the practice of separating families at the border.

They urged Sessions to stop the practice until Congress can pass legislation that would keep families together.

These senators sent the letter: Orrin Hatch, John McCain, Pat Roberts, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander, John Boozman, Dean Heller, Cory Gardner, James Lankford, and Bill Cassidy.

Here’s a portion of the letter:

We support the administration’s efforts to enforce our immigration laws, but we cannot support implementation of a policy that results in the categorical forced separation of minor children from their parents. We therefore ask you to halt implementation of the Department’s zero tolerance policy while Congress works out a solution that enables faster processing of individuals who enter our country illegally without requiring the forced, inhumane separation of children from their parents. We believe a reasonable path forward can be found that accommodates the need to enforce our laws while holding true to other, equally essential values.

Read the full the letter here.

President Trump is visiting Capitol Hill this evening to talk with Republican lawmakers about immigration.

Trump’s visit comes as outrage grows over his administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in separations of undocumented parents and kids.

Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said “all of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together while their immigration status is determined.” 

Actor George Takei argued that “in one core, horrifying way,” the family separations occurring at the United States’ southern border are “worse” than the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II.

“At least during the internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents,” he wrote in an op-ed for Foreign Policy magazine that was published Tuesday.

Takei, an American citizen of Japanese ancestry who was detained with his family at camps in Arkansas and California, wrote that there was a “hideous irony” in the comparison.

“At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances,” Takei wrote, describing the ways his family protected him from “the grim reality” of their circumstances.

Keep reading…

The idea of family separations was discussed in the early months of the administration in the context of having a deterrent effect, as then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said publicly at the time on CNN’s The Situation Room, according to a source familiar with early DHS deliberations.

But the policy wasn’t put in place because people worried about the backlash, the source said. 

The source continued: “It was clear that during those discussions there were those who believed that separating families was a way to get at the (migrant) flows, because as we got into the summer the numbers went up and there was concern about how do we address this.”

But those ideas didn’t win out, the source said.

Here’s Kelly talking about possible family separations last year:

Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, a woman from Guatemala, sued Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and other government officials after border agents separated her from her 7-year old son in May.   

She did not cross at a legal point of entry, but instead crossed the border “near San Luis, Arizona….and were immediately approached by border agents,” according to a court filing. She said that she sought asylum and was kept in a detention cell with her son for two days, before they were separated.   

She went to Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, while her son was transferred to Phoenix.  She said she passed the credible fear screening interview and was not charged with illegally entering the country.  

She posted bond with the help of an immigration bonds company, Libre by Nexus, on Friday and says she has spoken with her son once.  

She is seeking to be reunited with her son, as well as damages.

The state of New York has announced that it also intends to sue Trump administration. (You can read more about that potential lawsuit in the post below this one.)

The state of New York intends to file a multi-agency lawsuit against the Trump administration on the grounds that the federal government is violating the Constitutional rights of thousands of immigrant children and their parents who have been separated at the border, according to a news release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. 

“The governor is directing the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Department of Health and the Office of Children and Family Services to commence legal action against the federal government’s ‘Separation of Families’ policy,” the statement said.

In a phone call with journalists, Cuomo said he would like the lawsuit to be filed within two weeks.

Diego Gomez Pickering, Mexico’s consul general to New York City, on Tuesday said the Mexican government is working closely to keep immigrant families together and safe at Mexico’s southern border.

“Families, for us, sit at the nucleus of society, any society, regardless of the country we are speaking of and it is vital that we as individuals, we as human beings, fathers and mothers, we as sons and daughters that we protect this very important institution — it is family, the cornerstone of humanity,” Gomez Pickering said at a Global Institute lunch in Long Island.

He was speaking about people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras crossing into Mexico’s southern border but he also appeared to allude to the situation on Mexico’s border with the United States as well.

Gomez Pickering was speaking about people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras crossing into Mexico’s southern border but he also appeared to allude to the situation on Mexico’s border with the United States as well.

The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware joined a growing group of states Tuesday afternoon that were pulling, or refusing to send, its National Guard members to the southern border.

Why the National Guard: In April, President Trump signed a memorandum to deploy the National Guard to the southwest border. The Pentagon said the troops would “act in support of Border Patrol agents who are performing law enforcement duties.”

Since then, a number of states, including New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, said they would not participate in the effort.

There are currently about 2,000 members of the National Guard operating across four border states – Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas – according to Kurt M. Rauschenberg, National Guard Bureau Spokesman.

The House compromise bill — the more moderate of two House immigration proposals — will include a revised provision to address family separation, according to a House Republican source familiar with negotiations.

The bill is still being finalized, but it will be circulated later today, the source said.

In addition to overturning the rule that says children cannot be in Department of Homeland Security custody longer than 20 days, the House negotiators have expanded their solution to ending family separations. 

Under the new language, the bill will…

How this differs from what’s happening now: Under Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, immigrants crossing the border for the first time are still being prosecuted, which is what has lead to the separations.

Under the original version of the bill, children could be in DHS custody longer than 20 days, but their parents were still going through the Department of Justice system. Because children cannot go to jail, families were being separated. This provision attempts to address this and it keep parents in DHS custody.  

There was consensus on passing a narrow bill on the family separation issue among Republican senators who met today for lunch to discuss immigration, according to a source who attended the GOP lunch.

While they agree on the family separation issue, there was a debate internally about how to get the immigration bill through the Senate, the source said:

Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio will be among those working on getting a bill together that can pass.

There were broad concerns that this has not been handled well by the administration, the source said.

President Trump’s views on the family separations at the border can be summed up in these two quotes from his meeting today with business leaders.

In Trump’s first remark, he is essentially saying the policy acts as a deterrent for people coming to the US:

Trump then lays out the separation policy:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that GOP members met today about immigration and family separation problem.

He said “all of the members of Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together while their immigration status is determined.”

Brad Parscale, who President Trump has tapped to run his 2020 reelection campaign, sent a tweet this afternoon calling on the President to fire Jeff Sessions and end the Mueller investigation.

“You can’t obstruct something that was phony against you. The IG report gives @realDonaldTrump the truth to end it all,” Parscale tweeted.

But according to a source familiar with the strategy here, Parscale is with other Republican operatives who are tearing their hair out about the child separation story drowning out the IG report.

But here’s the key context: Though six in 10 Republicans are OK with the child separation policy, control of the House will be fought in suburbs and swing districts where this is an affront to key voters. The president’s campaign manager calling for his attorney general to be fired is an attempt to wrestle the story back to ground they think benefits Republicans.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, criticized the Trump administration policy that forced the separation of immigrant children and parents at the border, saying the US is “better than that.”

“Even if you believe immigration should be halted entirely, we all should be able to agree that in the United States of America, we will not intentionally separate children from their parents,” he said. “We are better than that. We are so much better. We should be able to agree that we will not keep kids in child internment camps indefinitely.”

He added: “What country is that?”

President Trump hugged an American flag as he walked off the stage at a small business owners event.

Trump’s speech to the crowd addressed the controversial border separations, the upcoming House immigration bill and other issues.

Here’s the moment:

This is at least the third time Donald Trump has hugged an American flag on stage. Today may be the first since becoming President. He also did it at a rally in Tampa on Oct 24, 2016, and August 19,2015 in Derry, New Hampshire.

President Trump vowed to make changes to the House immigration bill — he declined to say which bill he was referring to — and almost certainly surprising members who were hoping to vote this week. 

“So we have a House that’s getting ready to finalize an immigration package that they’re going to brief me on later, and then I’m gonna make changes to it,” Trump said. “We have one chance to get it right. We might as well get it right, or let’s just keep it going.” 

House Republicans have been working on two proposals: One more moderate one, and another more conservative option, known as the Goodlatte bill.

Last week, deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Trump fully supported and would willingly sign either. 

“The President fully supports both the Goodlatte bill and the House leadership bill,” Shah said in a statement. “In this morning’s interview, he was commenting on the discharge petition in the House, and not the new package. He would sign either the Goodlatte or the leadership bills.”

President Trump said he will soon seek authorization for a measure that would cut foreign aid to countries sending waves of migrants to the US.

“When countries abuse us by sending people up — not their best — we’re not going to give any more aid to those countries,” he said at a small business event in Washington. “Why should we?”

Trump has threatened to withhold aid over immigration before.

In April, Trump said Honduras’ US aid is “in play” because of a caravan of migrants moving through Mexico who plan to turn themselves in and request asylum once they make it to the US border.

In May, at a roundtable discussion about immigration, he announced his administration was devising a plan to withhold US foreign aid funds from the home countries of immigrants who illegally enter the United States.

President Trump said he doesn’t “want the children to be taken away from parents” — but added that it’s necessary if the US wants to prosecute the parents.

“We want to solve family separation, and I don’t want the children to be taken away from parents, and when you are prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.”

Trump added that he wants to “end the border crisis” by giving officials the authority and resources to “detain and remove illegal immigrant families altogether.”

Watch more:

President Trump issued another attack on the news media, claiming the press is assisting criminal immigrants.

“They know it. They know exactly what they’re doing, and it should be stopped,” Trump said. “Because what’s going on is very unfair to the people of our country, and they violate the law.”

President Trump, speaking at a National Federation of Independent Businesses event, said Mexico does “nothing” to stop undocumented immigrants from crossing into the US.

“They come up through Mexico. Mexico does nothing for us. You hear it here: They do nothing for us. They could stop it. They have very, very strong laws. Try staying in Mexico for a couple of days, see how long that lasts. OK? They do nothing for us.”

Watch more:

Sen. Bill Nelson traveled to Homestead, Florida, today to tour a temporary shelter for unaccompanied children. But he tells reporters that he was not allowed inside.

Nelson, a Democrat, said it was “not a good reflection on the Trump administration.”

“They are embarrassed and don’t want us to check on the comfort and welfare of these children. This is absolutely ridiculous,” Nelson said. “I am ashamed of this administration that they are doing this.”

He told reporters he is traveling back to Washington and plans to be on the Senate floor tonight.

President Trump will head to Capitol Hill this evening to meet with lawmakers about immigration. CNN’s Phil Mattingly, who’s reporting from the Capitol, described the mood there:

“Uneasy is probably the way to describe lawmakers right now. When the President comes to the Capitol, he will be visiting basically a place that has become totally enveloped by this issue, by this crisis, by lawmakers on both sides trying to figure out a way out of it.”

House Republicans are planning to vote on immigration bills this week, but the efforts were not originally intended to address the issue of family separation.

“The President is going to talk about a broad immigration — mostly related to DACA — effort that’s occurring on the House floor later this week. The family separation issue has now been combined with that. And this is a confluence of basically two very different issues that have now crashed into one another, are both very complicated and very emotional and at this point don’t have any type of bipartisan support.”

Watch Mattingly explain more:

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican, has called on the Department of Justice to “pause” the family separations at the southern border until Congress can pass legislation that would stop them for good.

He just tweeted:

The Trump administration has vigorously defended its zero-tolerance policy amid outrage over the family separations.

Speaking at the White House Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reiterated the administration’s position that it is enforcing the law and called on Congress to take action.

Previous administrations, however, have avoided separating parents from their children, instead releasing families with court dates for immigration proceedings and various monitoring tactics.

Asked about the policy on Fox News Monday night, Sessions said authorities are “taking care of these children.”

With CNN’s Laura Jarrett

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote a letter to Trump officials, demanding an end to the family separation policy.

In the letter, addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Inslee and Ferguson said there are more than 200 people detained at the Federal Detention Center, SeaTac facility near Seattle.

“Many of these detainees are parents who were separated from their children by border officials,” they wrote. “And many came to this county seeking asylum.” 

The state officials ask about the whereabouts and conditions of these children, and question why the parents are being held in prison during the resolution of their asylum claims.

Have you or someone you know been affected by family separations at the US border? CNN’s reporters want to hear about it.

You can reach us by sending a text, WhatsApp message or iMessage to CNN at +1 347-322-0415.

A reporter may be in touch.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo sent CNN a statement this morning announcing that Rhode Island would not be sending its National Guard to the southern border.

“The Trump Administration’s family separation policy is immoral, unjust and un-American,” Raimondo said. 

Noting she hadn’t yet been asked to do so, Raimondo said she wouldn’t deploy troops to the southern border to support the Trump Administration’s policy “that is ripping families apart.”

She continued:

“Children should be with their families, not trapped in cages, sobbing and calling out for their parents. The Administration’s immigration policy goes against everything we value as Rhode Islanders, as Americans and as decent people. The President alone can end family separation. I’m standing with all good-hearted people in our nation and calling on President Trump to end this inhumane policy.”

In April, President Trump signed a memorandum to deploy the National Guard to the southwest border. The Pentagon said the troops would “act in support of Border Patrol agents who are performing law enforcement duties.”

Since then, a number of states, including New York and Massachusetts, said they would not participate in the effort.

There are currently about 2,000 members of the National Guard operating across four border states – Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas – according to Kurt M. Rauschenberg, National Guard Bureau Spokesman.

Steven Wagner, with the US Department of Health and Human Services, says he does not know how many of the separated children have been placed or reunited with parents.

He added: “When we’re aware of the presence of a parent in the country, our goal then is to reunite the child with the parent.” 

Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking in Dublin, said separating children from parents at the border is “inhumane.”

He added that Apple would become a “constructive voice” on the issue.

President Trump tweeted this morning that there were approximately 12,000 undocumented immigrant children in Health and Human Services custody, and that 10,000 of those were unaccompanied when they were detained while just 2,000 were traveling with their parents and later separated from them.

Those numbers do generally reflect those we were given by HHS just yesterday. The Health Department told CNN it was caring for just under 11,800 while more than 2,000 children were taken from their parents as a result of the Department of Justice’s prosecution initiative.

What that means: The vast majority of children currently in the system came to the US by themselves, which is virtually impossible if you don’t use a smuggler, as the cartels control the land and pathways to get to the US.

The only reason we don’t know these numbers for 100% certain is because we don’t know how many of the separated children have been released from HHS custody to sponsors, as opposed to others still in detention.

On a Department of Homeland Security press call that happened this morning, Steven Wagner, Acting Assistant Secretary at HHS Administration for Children and Families, told reporters that roughly 80% of the children in custody did in fact come to the US alone.

A bipartisan group of more than 70 former US attorneys are calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse the Trump administration’s policy of prosecuting all people who cross the border illegally, saying it is “dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent” with the values of the Justice Department.

“Like the majority of Americans, we have been horrified by the images and stories of children torn from their families along our nation’s Southwest Border. And like a majority of Americans, we are appalled that your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children,” the prosecutors wrote on Medium in a post published Tuesday morning.

Prosecutors from both Republican and Democratic administrations signed on to the letter, including Preet Bharara, the former US attorney in Manhattan, and Chuck Rosenberg, the former acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and former US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Southwest Key, a nonprofit group that runs 26 immigrant children’s shelters, says hugging is “absolutely allowed” in its facilities.

The statement comes after a former employee said he was ordered to separate two brothers and a sister tightly hugging each other at one of the group’s shelters.

Here’s what Cindy Casares, director of communications for Southwest Key Programs, said in a statement:

In addition to a large facility in Brownsville, Texas, Southwest Key operates facilities in other states around the country.

Southwest Key says about 10% of the children in their facilities nationwide were separated from their parents. The other 90% are unaccompanied minors.

Lindsey Graham tells CNN that the White House can change the immigration policy itself.

“It’s not all the Democrats’ fault,” Graham said, contradicting Trump who has repeatedly and falsely blamed the Democrats for the policy. “I’ve tried a bunch, now it’s President Trump’s chance. He’s President — not Obama. I think there’s a deal to be had.”

Graham added that most people “want a better immigration system but do it with humanity”

“I think Melania got it right. My advice to the President is listen to Melania.”

What Melania Trump said: “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN on Sunday. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

President Trump has thrown Capitol Hill into chaos as lawmakers and aides scramble to not only try and address the issue, but also, as one senior GOP aide put it: “figure out what the hell the administration is actually doing right now.” 

Trump will be able to provide answers in person tonight, when he meets with House Republicans behind closed doors.

House Republicans are working on two immigration proposals (one more moderate, one more conservative) — and GOP aides are of the understanding the President will strongly back both.

As of now, neither is on the road to passage and a strong push from the President could be the only thing that could get the second, less hardline proposal to a majority.

Bottom line: The President could conceivably give one or both of the House efforts a boost today. Or he could crater them entirely. As the GOP aide put it: “This is the high wire act we live in day in and day out.”  

Here’s what to watch as that “high wire act” plays out today:

President Trump again blamed Democrats on the issue of illegal immigration, saying immigrants “continue to pour into and infest our country, like MS-13.” Trump went on to say that Democrats view immigrants as “potential voters.”

(The President has previously called sanctuary cities “infested” with crime.)

The President also tweeted about immigration in Germany, falsely claiming that crime is up since the country began accepting more migrants. (It’s not.)

He also included this tweet, repeating a phrase he’s often said in office and on the campaign trail:

Minnesota’s Sen. Tina Smith is calling on Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign.

The email comes one day before President Trump is scheduled to travel to Minnesota.

Smith joins two other Democratic senators in calling for Nielsen’s resignation. Here’s what they said yesterday:

Jeff Merkley:

“If she’s going to tell whoppers like that and keep repeating them, then she simply needs to step down. We need somebody there with integrity.”

Kamala Harris:

“The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart … And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under Secretary Nielsen’s tenure, the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of neither. As a result, she must resign.”

A coalition of 21 attorneys general are calling on officials in Washington to end the Trump administration’s “cruel and illegal attacks on children and families lawfully seeking asylum in the United States as they seek protection from domestic, sexual, and gang violence,” according to a release from the New York attorney general who is a part of that coalition.

In a letter to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the coalition expresses strong opposition to the “zero tolerance” policy that results in the separation of thousands of children from their families.

The letter was led by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas and signed by the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and 19 states…

Outraged over the separation of children from their parents at the border, activists are planning protests throughout the country today.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley told CNN’s Erin Burnett that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen should step down because “she’s not being honest with Americans.”

“It’s a big, coordinated strategy to result in tearing, well, children away from their parents to send a political message, or to create legislative leverage,” he said tonight. “That is not acceptable under any moral code, to hurt children and parents in that fashion.”

Merkley said Nielsen “simply needs to step down.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, just issued a statement calling on the White House to “end the cruel, tragic separations of families” at the southern border.

Here’s her statement, which she tweeted:

CORRECTION: We originally said Lisa Murkowski is a senator from Maine. She is from Alaska.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby said that his meeting today with President Trump and Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito focused on border security and wall funding but not on the family separation policy.

“We talked about funding, how we can hopefully make a down payment on the funding of the wall,” he said. “The President is determined, and I agree with him, that we should protect the border.”

Shelby said the meeting did not include a broader immigration reform discussion.

Asked about the President’s assertions both on the campaign trail and since becoming president that Mexico would pay for the wall, Shelby said, “Well, who knows? They might before it’s all over with. He says they are. We’ll see.”

Shelby said the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which will be marked up Tuesday, will include $1.6 billion for border security construction. This is the amount the administration requested. 

Shelby described the family separation issue playing out of the border as “heart wrenching.”

“When you separate children from their families,” he said. “That’s a tough situation anywhere in the world. We know that. Its complex. Its heart wrenching. Let’s see where we go.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen responded to criticism from multiple former first ladies to the administration’s zero tolerance immigration stance, remarking that it is a serious issue but one that should be handled by Congress. 

“What my response would be is calling attention to this matter is important,” Nielsen said from the White House briefing room Monday. “This is a very serious issue that has resulted after years and years of Congress not taking action, so I would thank them both for their comments.”

Nielsen added: “It’s not a policy. Our policy at DHS is to do what we’re sworn to do, which is to enforce the law.” 

Asked specifically about the Japanese internment remark from former first lady Laura Bush, Nielsen said, “What I believe is that we should exercise our Democratic rights as Americans and fix the problem. It’s a problem. Let’s fix it.” 

The Mormon Church just issued a statement on border family separations, stating that “immigration reform should strengthen families and keep them together,” and that the separations at the southern border were “harmful to families, especially to young children.”

Here’s the full statement:

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long expressed its position that immigration reform should strengthen families and keep them together. The forced separation of children from their parents now occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border is harmful to families, especially to young children. We are deeply troubled by the aggressive and insensitive treatment of these families. While we recognize the right of all nations to enforce their laws and secure their borders, we encourage our national leaders to take swift action to correct this situation and seek for rational, compassionate solutions.”

ProPublica published audio of children at a US Customs and Border Protection facility who have been separated from their parents.

The audio was provided by Human Rights attorney Jennifer Harbury, who told CNN that a client was at the facility last week where children had been recently separated from their parents.

In the audio you can hear children crying and asking for “Papi” and “Mama.” One child can be heard begging for someone to call her aunt, saying she even has the phone number memorized.

Listen to the tape:

When asked specifically about the recording during the press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said, “I have not seen something that came out today but I have been to detention centers and again I would reference you to our standards, I would reference you to the care provided not just by the Department of Homeland Security but by the department by Health and Human Services when they get to HHS.”

ProPublica was able to reach the aunt of the young girl in the recording. The aunt told them she was sad there was nothing she could do to help her niece, because she and her own 9-year-old daughter were seeking asylum after immigrating two years ago.

The aunt told ProPublica she has talked to her niece, and the young girl has been moved to shelter. She says the child has been told that her mother might be deported without her. She also said the girl has not yet had an opportunity speak to her mother, who has been move to a detention facility in Port Isabel, Texas.

Note: CNN has not been able to verify the source of the tape nor the events that reportedly occur on the audio. CNN did speak with civil rights attorney Jennifer Harbury who provided the clip to ProPublica, she will provide no further detail. CNN has also reached out to CBP and are awaiting a response. 

Former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who is now White House chief of staff, told CNN’s Wolf Blizter in March 2017 that the department was considering separating undocumented children from their parents at the border.

Kelly said he was considering any policy that would help deter “people from Central America to getting on this very, very dangerous network that brings them up through Mexico into the United States.”

“We have tremendous experience of dealing with unaccompanied minors,” he told Blitzer. “We turn them over to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job of putting them in foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States.”

He continued: “Yes I’m considering (that), in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network. I am considering exactly that. They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents. … It’s more important to me, Wolf, to try to keep people off of this awful network.”

Why we’re talking about this now

Current Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen is facing scrutiny for the policy resulted in an uptick of children being separated from their families. Today, she said the “vast majority” of children being held in the detention facilities were sent to the US alone by their parents.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was asked if the children who have been separated from the parents were also being used as pawns to against a border wall.

Nielsen denied the children were being used in any way.

“The children are not being used as a pawn and we’re trying to protect the children which is why I’m asking Congress to act,” she said. 

Asked Monday why the administration’s policy of separating children from their parents on the border isn’t “child abuse,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen insisted conditions at the detention facilities are up to par.

Here’s what she told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny:

She said the “vast majority” of children being held in the detention facilities were sent to the US alone by their parents.

What the American Academy of Pediatrics says:

Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said removing children from the care of their parents at the border amounts to a form of child abuse.

“This is not normal activity or brain development with these children. The takeaway is that these children need their parents,” she said. “This does amount to child abuse.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen continued to defend the Trump administration’s highly scrutinized immigration policy at a White House press briefing Monday while at the same time calling on Congress to change the law.

“Congress and the courts created this problem and Congress alone can fix it,” she said at today’s press briefing. “Until then, we will enforce every law we have on the books to defend the sovereignty and security of the United States.”

She later added, “Surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of the democracy when the body who makes the laws, instead of changing them, tells the enforcement body not to enforce the law. I ask Congress to act this week so that we could secure our borders and uphold our humanitarian ideals.”

President Trump has squarely – and misleadingly – blamed Democrats for the unfolding crisis.

Rep. Steve Stivers, the chair of the Republican National Campaign Committee, came out against the Trump administration policy of splitting up families at the border on Monday.

“As a father, I know firsthand that there is nothing more important than family, and I understand why kids need to be with their parents,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“I am writing a letter to understand the current policies and to ask the Administration to stop needlessly separating children from their parents. If the policy is not changed, I will support other means to stop unnecessary separation of children from their parents,” he added.

This could be taken as a signal to vulnerable Republicans in the House that it is ok to break with Trump in this issue.

Homeland Security head Kristjen Nielsen is speaking at the White House press briefing, and she’s expected to take questions.

Watch live on CNNGo, and follow here for highlights.

No, as internal Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by CNN show.

Administration officials predicted the zero-tolerance policy would deter immigrants from trying to enter the United States illegally. Instead, publicly released data showed a roughly 5% uptick in the number of people caught crossing the border illegally in May when compared to figures from April, including a big jump in unaccompanied children.

— From CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet

Most are taken to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. These facilities were originally set up to house unaccompanied minors – children who crossed the border without parents or legal guardians.

As a result of the administration’s new policy, these so-called shelters are also increasingly housing children who crossed the border with their parents and were subsequently separated from them.

Currently there are a total of more than 11,700 children in the office’s custody, according to officials.

Immigrant rights organizations say holding children in such facilities – especially children who were taken from their parents – is cruel and inhumane. Officials have categorically denied such accusations, characterizing them as misleading reports from advocacy groups and media outlets.

“It is important to note that these minors are very well taken care of. Don’t believe the press. … We operate according to some of the very highest standards in the country,” Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday.

— From CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet

A White House official tells CNN that Sarah Sanders did not want to do the press briefing today amid a swirl of questions about the separation policy, so Homeland Security chief Nielsen is being flown back from New Orleans to take questions.

This explains the repeated delay for today’s White House press briefing. It’s an open question whether Nielsen will make it back by 5 p.m. ET.

Yes and no. More children are being separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy – around 2,000 since May, according to the latest statistics officials have released. And that’s no accident; officials have indicated they implemented the new policy to deter more immigrants from coming to the United States.

But family separations were happening before officials announced the policy.

In April, the Department of Health and Human Services told The New York Times that approximately 700 children had been taken from families at the border in the six preceding months.

This had also occurred in some individual cases under past administrations as well – but not at the scale we’re seeing currently.

It has long been a misdemeanor federal offense to be caught illegally entering the country, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. But previous US administrations generally didn’t refer everyone caught for prosecution. Those who were apprehended were put into immigration proceedings and faced deportation from the country, unless they qualified to pursue an asylum claim.

— From CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet

All five living first ladies — three Democrats and two Republicans — have criticized the White House’s “zero-tolerance” policy, which has forced the separation of undocumented parents and children crossing the US border.

Here’s what they said said:

Melania Trump

“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” Trump’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

Michelle Obama

Obama retweeted fellow former first lady Laura Bush’s scathing column on the issue and added a message of support.

Laura Bush

Bush wrote a harsh criticism of the policy in the Washington Post: “I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.”

Hillary Clinton

Clinton told an audience of women in New York that separating families at the border is a “moral and humanitarian crisis.” She said: “What is happening to families at the border is horrific, nursing infants being ripped away from their mothers, parents being told their toddlers are being taken to bathe or play only to realizes hours later they aren’t coming back, children incarcerated in warehouses and according to one account, kept in cages.”

This statement was obtained by Kate Andersen Brower, who says Carter’s office is set to tweet it momentarily.

 Rosalynn Carter

Carter released a statement through her office Monday: “When I was first lady, I worked to call attention to the plight of refugees fleeing Cambodia for Thailand. I visited Thailand and witnessed firsthand the trauma of parents and children separated by circumstances beyond their control. The practice and policy today of removing children from their parents’ care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country.”

Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the Trump administration’s practice of taking undocumented immigrant children from their families and putting them in government facilities on US borders, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Only 28% approve.

But not among Republicans: There is majority support for the policy that has resulted in an uptick of children being separated from their families.

The separations are the end result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of criminally charging people who cross the border illegally.

The new poll numbers follow harsh criticism that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are receiving after implementing the new policy.

The Trump administration announced a new policy in May, saying authorities would criminally prosecute anyone who crosses the border illegally. The result: While they face prosecution, parents are now held in federal prisons – where their children can’t be held with them.

Previous administrations largely opted not to pursue criminal charges against people who crossed illegally with children, referring them instead mostly to immigration courts.

From CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet

Separating children from their parents is a “heartbreaking, barbaric issue that could be changed in a moment by the President of the United States rescinding his action, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in San Diego.

She said it “challenges the conscience of our country” and “must be changed immediately.”

“We will be persisting in getting the information that we need to make sure the American people understand that their values are on the line,” the Congresswoman said.  

New York state will not deploy the National Guard to the border, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday, citing the treatment of families at the border as a “moral outrage and an affront to the values that built this state and this nation.”

The New York news came just after Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office announced that governor had directed his state’s National Guard not to send any assets or personnel to the border, also citing the family separation issue.

Sen. Kamala Harris said that Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen should resign as outrage over the White House’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has separated undocumented parents and children, grows.

Harris, a Democrat, sits on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which has oversight of DHS.

Here’s her tweet:

Earlier today, Nielsen defended the immigration policy, saying, “We will not apologize for the job we do.”

You can watch more of her comments in the video below:

Hillary Clinton told an audience of women in New York on Monday that separating families are the border is a “moral and humanitarian crisis” and that “every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.” 

Clinton also took on Trump directly, saying his argument that the separations are a result of the “Democrats law” is an “outright lie.”

“What is happening to families at the border is horrific, nursing infants being ripped away from their mothers, parents being told their toddlers are being taken to bathe or play only to realizes hours later they aren’t coming back, children incarcerated in warehouses and, according to one account, kept in cages,” Clinton said. 

She added:

“You know, I warned about this during the debates and on the campaign trail, that Trump’s immigration policies would result in families being separated, and parents being sent away from the children, people being rounded up and loaded into trains and busses and now as we watch with broken hearts, that is exactly what is happening. And let’s be very clear, this is not happening because of the quote “Democrats law” as the White House has claimed. Separating families is not mandated by law at all. That is an outright lie.”

Clinton also slammed Trump to his tweets on Germany this morning, labeling them as the “President’s attempt today to stoke fear.”

Former first lady Laura Bush has spoken out about the separation of families on the US border, writing a harsh criticism of the current zero-tolerance immigration policy being enforced under the Trump administration and tweeting that it was “immoral.”

Former first lady Michelle Obama just retweeted Bush’s tweet, adding, “Sometimes truth transcends party.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for US Senate, blamed “many years of bi-partisan inaction” for the immigration policies prompting the separations of undocumented parents and kids. (The “zero-tolerance” policy was implemented by the Trump administration.)

“Let me be clear – I do not favor separating families. Washington is to blame for this by being all talk and no action, and the solution is to secure the border,” Scott said in a statement.

Here’s the full statement:

“What the country is witnessing right now is the byproduct of the many years of bi-partisan inaction and failure from our federal government. They have failed to secure our borders, which has resulted in this chaos. Let me be clear – I do not favor separating families. Washington is to blame for this by being all talk and no action, and the solution is to secure the border. Anyone seeking to enter our country illegally needs to be sent back, with the exception of those who are truly seeking asylum from an oppressive regime.”

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, signed an executive order limiting use of state resources “to separate children from parents or legal guardians on sole ground of immigration status.”

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy and practice of separating children from their parents when arriving at the southern border is offensive to our core values as Coloradans and as a country,” the executive order states.

Hickenlooper also sent Congressional leaders a letter urging they take action that would stop the policy.

Human rights group Amnesty International blasted the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents as “a spectacularly cruel policy” that has produced images which will “leave an indelible stain on the reputation of the USA.”

Here’s a statement from Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director:

“This is a spectacularly cruel policy, where frightened children are being ripped from their parent’s arms and taken to overflowing detention centers, which are effectively cages. This is nothing short of torture. The severe mental suffering that officials have intentionally inflicted on these families for coercive purposes, means that these acts meet the definitions of torture under both US and international law.”

House Republicans are planning to vote this week on two immigration proposals: One more conservative bill and another one drafted with moderates.

The bills, which were set in motion before the family separation issue hit center stage, are about another politically polarizing issue: recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

But now, it appears that both bills will address the issue of family separation, as well.

CNN previously reported that the compromise immigration bill would include language to address family separation at the border. 

A House GOP source says the Goodlatte immigration bill (the hardline, conservative bill) will also address family separation.

Now, both bills will have provisions that would allow families to stay together, while still in Department of Homeland Security custody. Drafters are looking at how to keep families together in Department of Justice custody as well. 

Here’s how one House GOP source put it: 

“The drafts of both bills clarify the Flores Settlement by ensuring accompanied alien minors apprehended at the border can remain with their parent or legal guardian while in DHS custody. Drafters are also working to include a provision that not only addresses DHS custody but DOJ custody as well. Note that bill text hasn’t yet been filed for either.” 

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said the governor has directed the National Guard not to send any assets or personnel to the border “because the federal government’s current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children.”

According to communications director Lizzy Guyton:

 “Governor Baker directed the National Guard not to send any assets or personnel to the Southwest border today because the federal government’s current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said “family unity must be preserved” as refugees and migrants travel to new countries, adding that children “must not be traumatized by being separated from their parents.

Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric released this statement:

As a matter of principle, the Secretary-General believes that refugees and migrants should always be treated with respect and dignity, and in accordance with existing international law. Children must not be traumatized by being separated from their parents. Family unity must be preserved. 

Dr. Colleen Kraft, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said removing children from the care of their parents at the border amounts to a form of child abuse.

Kraft, who heads the professional association of pediatricians, visited a facility where children who had been separated for their parents were being held.

She found toddlers — who you’d expect to be rambunctious — staying unusually silent, she said. One young girl sat wailing.

“This is not normal activity or brain development with these children. The takeaway is that these children need their parents,” she said. “This does amount to child abuse.”

Dr. Kraft was first invited by local pediatricians to visit a government shelter for immigrant children in Combes, Texas, this spring, and was shaken by what she saw.

“I’ve never been in this situation where I’ve felt so needlessly helpless,” she told CNN of the visit.

President Trump said Monday that secure borders are necessary to keeping the country safe. 

“We need borders, we need safety,” Trump continued, decrying “the death and destruction that’s been caused by people coming into this country, without going through a process.”

Insisting the country requires a merit-based immigration system, Trump maintained the importance of securing the nation’s borders.

“We want a safe country and it starts with the borders,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”

In opening remarks at a space policy rollout event, President Donald Trump addressed the growing child separation crisis on the US-Mexico border, blaming Democrats for the unfolding situation.

“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault, their obstruction, they’re really obstructionist and they’re really obstructing,” Trump said.

He continued, “The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility, it won’t be. You look at what’s happening in Europe, you look at what’s happening in other places, we can’t allow that to happen to the United States, not on my watch.”

Watch:

The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy that has resulted in thousands of family separations at the border hasn’t deterred immigrants from trying to enter the country illegally, internal Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by CNN show.

The documents, which refer to the effort as the “Prosecution Initiative,” demonstrate that in early April, Homeland Security staff predicted that the deterrent effects of the policies would be visible quickly.

Instead, publicly released data showed a roughly 5% uptick in the number of people caught crossing the border illegally when compared to figures from April, including a big jump in unaccompanied children. 

While the documents don’t speak to the conceptualization of the policy or the internal deliberations that preceded it, they call into question the administration’s justification for the policy. The lack of measurable impact on immigration lends weight to questions about the policy’s effectiveness, going beyond moral issues raised by the policy’s critics. 

So far, the policy has resulted in the separations of least 2,000 children from their families.

This is one of those instances when people are going on Fox News and appealing directly to the President.

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who’s been a relatively friendly voice for President Trump on TV lately, had a forceful message for him on Monday.

“You have to end this policy of separating parents from children,” Dershowitz told Trump through the president’s favorite morning show, “Fox & Friends.”

This policy “imposes a trauma on the children. It’s just unacceptable. It’s just not proper. There are other ways of doing this,” Dershowitz said, imploring Trump to stop it “today.”

The hosts soon moved on to safer subject matter, but Dershowitz’s message was memorable for sure.

Ann Coulter went in the other direction on Fox News on Sunday. In an exchange highlighted by Breitbart, the far-right commentator claimed that some migrant children are “child actors.”

“These child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now: Do not fall for it, Mr. President,” Coulter said.

She commented that she gets “very nervous about the President getting his news from TV,” even while she was trying to talk to him through the TV.

Mercedes Schlapp, the White House’s director of strategic communications, said in an appearance on Fox News that President Trump is “fully committed to enforcing the law” when it comes to separating young children from their parents.

Schlapp, echoing the President, blamed Democrats for “using the children as the political pawns” and “advocating for the smugglers who are bringing the children over.” She called on Democrats to vote for the two Republican-led immigration bills and “close the loopholes.”

The separation of migrant families at the US border is becoming a bigger story by the day.

And not just in America: News outlets around the world are also looking askance at what’s happening as a result of the Trump administration’s recent policy change.

Newsrooms have been surging resources to the border region in recent days. Journalists are receiving access to detention centers, albeit with restrictions, and seeing that some children are being kept in cages. Other children are staying in dorm-like settings.

Among the reasons for the surge of news coverage: President Trump’s lies about the policy, sustained outrage among immigration advocates, and organized protests by Democratic lawmakers.

By Father’s Day, it was the lead story on many newscasts and websites.

Keep reading…

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the US does not want to separate undocumented children and parents who cross the border — but added that the government must prosecute “adults who flout our laws.”

Sessions added that Trump’s proposed border wall is a way to fix the issue.

“President Trump has said this cannot continue. We do not want to separate parents from their children. If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won’t face these terrible choices,” Sessions said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican from Utah, just issued a statement criticizing the policy that’s lead to family separations at the border as “wrong.”

He said he’s working with both Democrats and Republicans to come up with a solution.

There’s seriously a debate in some circles about the word “cages.”

On “Fox & Friends,” co-host Steve Doocy disputed whether children at a facility in McAllen, Texas, were really being held in “cages,” the way the Associated Press and other major news outlets said.

Pictures released by Customs and Border Protection on Sunday showed the cages really clearly – contradicting a previous pro-Trump talking point that cages weren’t being used.

At one point on Monday, Doocy said the authorities simply “built walls out of chain-link fences.” He also said it looks “more like a security pen to me.” But he said he recognized why some people called them “cages.”

The new fallback position is that the Obama administration used the same kinds of facilities to hold unaccompanied minors.

Here’s Doocy’s full quote:

Hogan, let’s talk about the human part. We got images from the border patrol of images inside detention facilities. Some likened them to concentration camps. Some refer to these as cages. I can understand that point of view. Look, I’m from farm community. To me, i see the chain-link fences, more like a security pen to me. Nonetheless whether you call it a cage, call it a pen, the images are stark.