In an exceedingly rare move, all five first ladies, former and present, have spoken out against the family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The policy of separating children from their families at the border has triggered debate in Washington D.C. and around the nation, with many calling the policy inhumane.
The Trump administration has said the policy is to ensure that adults who cross the border illegally are prosecuted, and that children cannot be housed with the adults while they go through the criminal process, ABC News reports.
Current First Lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman said that the first lady “hates to see” children separated from their parents and called on both parties to work together to change immigration law, ABC News reports.
“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokeswoman, said in a statement. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post on Sunday, Laura Bush wrote that she understands the importance of securing the borders, but the current policy reminds her of Japanese Internment Camps.
I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.https://t.co/he1uw1E96A
— Laura Bush (@laurawbush) June 18, 2018
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” Mrs. Bush wrote.
Mrs. Bush also appealed to Americans’ sense of morality and juxtaposed the separation of immigrant children from their families to Japanese internment in World War II.
“These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned,” she wrote.
Michelle Obama retweeted Mrs. Bush’s opinion piece on Twitter, adding that “sometimes truth transcends party.”
Sometimes truth transcends party. https://t.co/TeFM7NmNzU
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 18, 2018
According to NBC News, Rosalynn Carter called the current policy “disgraceful and a shame to our country” in a statement, adding that she has seen the effects of separating children from their parents.
Statement from former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter on children separated from their parents at the border: pic.twitter.com/WVg91SWutl
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) June 18, 2018
Hillary Clinton also shared Mrs. Bush’s article on her Twitter account, and said there was no law to support this policy. The former first lady called the situation a “humanitarian issue” and that parents should be “outraged.”
What’s happening to families at the border right now is a humanitarian crisis. Every parent who has ever held a child in their arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 18, 2018
Mrs. Clinton also criticized the current administration’s religious justification for the policy, NBC News reports.
Speaking at a women's group in New York City on Monday, Mrs. Clinton said, “Those who selectively use the Bible to justify this cruelty are ignoring a central tenet of Christianity. These policies are not rooted in religion. What is being done using the name of religion is contrary to everything I was ever taught.”
“Jesus Christ said, ‘Suffer the children unto me,’ not ‘let the children suffer,’” she added.