Democratic critics of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy at the border have no good alternative solutions, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday. The left's latest offering, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), is downright radical, Cotton said.
"What the Democrats are proposing is their most radical open borders lawless proposal yet," he said. "Let’s just call a spade a spade, Hugh. Forty-nine Democrats have now supported a bill by Dianne Feinstein that says children at the border are literally a get out of jail free card. If you show up at our border, you have to be released into our country never to be seen again. They are literally a get out of jail free card, and a get into the U.S. free card."
Feinstein's Keep Families Together Act would prevent families from being separated within 100 miles of the U.S. border except for instances of abuse, neglect or other specific circumstances. Since April, almost 2,000 children have been separated from their parents. The press demanded answers as to how the administration could enforce such a cruel policy, but they have tried to explain that Congress first needs to fix some loopholes over immigrant children that allow adult illegal immigrants to take advantage of the process.
The Democrats, he added, are hypocritical. Did they forget that children are separated from their parents nearly every day because of crime and punishment?
"All across America, there are parents who are separated from their children because they have been arrested for a crime, or they’ve been convicted of a crime. And their children are placed with the next of kin, or their children are placed in foster care. That probably happened last night in Arkansas multiple times. Yet the Democrats aren’t crying for those American citizens. They’re willing to treat illegal immigrant criminals better than they treat American citizens who are charged with a crime. So what they are proposing shows just how radical and extreme the Democrats have become on immigration."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has offered an "emergency" bill that also proposes to keep border families together. His legislation would double the number of immigration judges, expand the number of detention centers, and expedite the processing of asylum claims so that we can also keep children together with parents during their period of detention. Guy is a fan.
Cotton said he hadn't seen the bill yet, but he did suggest it must be miles better than the other guys' solution.
"The Democrats want all those people released into the United States never to be seen from again."