Ivanka says is ‘vehemently against’ family separations at border
US President Donald Trump's daughter and White House senior adviser, Ivanka, has distanced herself from her father’s zero tolerance policy that led to the separation of thousands of children from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border.
Speaking at an event in Washington DC on Thursday, Ivanka denounced the controversial policy as a “low point” of her tenure at the White House and said she was “vehemently against” the separation of parents and children at the southern US border with Mexico.
“That was a low point for me as well. I feel very strongly about that, and I am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children,” she said.
“I think immigration is incredibly complex as a topic, illegal immigration is incredibly complicated. I am a daughter of an immigrant, my mother grew up in Communist Czech Republic, but we are a country of laws ... We have to be very careful about incentivizing behavior that puts children at risk of being trafficked, at risk of entering this country with coyotes or making an incredibly dangerous journey alone,” Ivanka added.
The US president’s daughter also noted that “These are not easy issues, these are incredibly difficult issues and, like the rest of the country, I experience them in a very emotional way.”
Ivanka drew widespread criticism from activists and some lawmakers last month when she remained publicly silent on the US administration’s immigration enforcement policy that led to more than 2,500 family separations along the southern border.
The lawmakers blasted the separation practice as "inhumane" and "cruel," but Trump and other officials insisted only Congress could address the issue.
Facing overwhelming bipartisan backlash, the US president eventually signed an executive order in June to halt the separations.
The Republican president has vowed to crack down on immigration but has failed to get his complete agenda through so far.
More than 2,000 separated children are currently in the US government's custody, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which claims that it is aware of their locations and is making an effort to reunite them with their families.
More than half of American voters say they disapprove of the way the businessman-turned-politician has handled immigration, according to a recent survey by Quinnipiac University.
Just 39 percent of those polled said they approve of the president’s policy, while 58 percent said they disapprove.
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