Ivanka reportedly urged Trump Tuesday night to put an end to separating families at the border of the United States and Mexico.
Since his administration implemented a “zero tolerance” policy, there’s been a spike in the number of children and their immigrant parents being torn apart — and over 2,000 kids have been detained.
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley told CNN that Ivanka met with Trump regarding this issue of separating families at the border, as well as the disturbing footage that shows distressed children in cage-like conditions.
“She offered the president her support and she said she would talk to any member of Congress to help find a legislative solution to the issue,” Gidley said.
Ivanka reportedly called House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to discuss legislation.
During a meeting with Republican members of the House, Trump spoke of the conversation he had with Ivanka about separating families at the border. He also reportedly told these House members that something needs to get done on immigration “right away” because it’s “certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad,” according to Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK).
At this meeting, the president “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, (R-FL) said. “He discussed the optics and the policy itself, and I think he’s not comfortable with either.”
My ♥️! #SundayMorning pic.twitter.com/CN5iXutE5Q
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 27, 2018
Ivanka received backlash last month for posting a picture of her cuddling her two-year-old son Theodore when news about separating families at the border surfaced. However, she hasn’t yet made public statements on the zero-tolerance immigration policy on any of her social media platforms with a statement. She also hasn’t addressed the meeting with her father.
No legislative solution is in action yet, but Trump has reportedly said he’ll back both immigration bills working their way through the House.
“In his remarks, he endorsed both House immigration bills that build the wall, close legal loopholes, cancel the visa lottery, curb chain migration and solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal,” White House spokesperson Raj Shah said, according to Reuters.
Many have accused Trump of using these immigrant children as pawns in order to get funding for his border wall.
BREAKING: Sarah Sanders says Trump won’t support any legislation that makes it illegal to separate families at the border, unless it’s combined with funding for the border wall. Trump is using these children as blackmail for a border wall. We won’t be extorted by this criminal.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 18, 2018
For how to help families being separated at the border, click through to our guide on donating, volunteering and making your voice heard.
