Turley: Trump Admin ‘Does Not Have to Separate the Kids From Their Mothers’

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley stated, “the administration does not have to separate the kids from their mothers. That’s a choice.” He added that there is a “legitimate issue” with the law the Trump administration wants to fix.

Turley said, “It’s a really sad story. Because as usual in Washington, there’s truth and falsity on both sides. Everyone’s spinning this and in the middle are these kids. The fact is that the administration does not have to separate the kids from their mothers. That’s a choice. That’s a policy choice. It’s also true that this issue has been forced by a change in policy to treat these as criminal matters, something many citizens support. I mean, Donald Trump was brought to power because he pledged to get tough on immigration. Getting tough on immigration means to switch from a civil or administrative process to a criminal one. Once you do that, you have these type of separation problems. And so, there is truth on both sides here. There are some agreements and some laws that govern how long and under what circumstances you hold children. But can the administration keep these families together? I think they could.”

Turley added, “[T]his law does create a glaring conflict, in this 20-day clock running. So, you can release, but then you have this gap of these — the mother’s moving on a different track from the kids. That’s a legitimate issue that the Trump administration wants to resolve.”

(h/t Grabien)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett