What's happening at the US border

By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, Brian Ries and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 9:52 p.m. ET, June 22, 2018
72 Posts
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5:11 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Trump says he wants to cut aid to countries sending immigrants

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

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.

1:34 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Trump: "You have to take the children away" to prosecute parents

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:

1:35 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

President Trump claims the media is helping "smugglers and traffickers"

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

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

"They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe," Trump said.

"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."

1:36 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Trump: Mexico does "nothing" to help US with border crossings

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:

1:36 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Democratic senator says he was denied entry into children's shelter: "They obviously are hiding something"

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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.

“They obviously are hiding something,” Nelson said. “They are using the excuse — get this — 'You have to apply two weeks in advance.'” 

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.

12:26 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Capitol Hill is "totally enveloped" by the family separation issue

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:

12:09 p.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Senior Republican calls for a "pause" in family separations until Congress can change policy

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

11:45 a.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Washington state leaders: Trump administration didn't "even have the decency" to let kids and parents say goodbye

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

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.

“You and the Trump Administration took their kids away and are detaining them separately,” they wrote. “You did not even have the decency to allow many parents to say goodbye to their children.”
11:38 a.m. ET, June 19, 2018

Have you or your loved ones have been affected by border separations? Tell CNN.

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.

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