President Donald Trump spent his Sunday evening lashing out at the CBS show "60 Minutes" in wake of an expose on the administration's executive order that resulted in more than 5,000 children being separated from their families.
"@60Minutes did a phony story about child separation when they know we had the exact same policy as the Obama Administration," Trump tweeted. "In fact a picture of children in jails was used by other Fake Media to show how bad (cruel) we are, but it was in 2014 during O years. Obama separated children from parents, as did Bush etc., because that is the policy and law. I tried to keep them together but the problem is, when you do that, vast numbers of additional people storm the Border. So with Obama seperation [sic] is fine, but with Trump it’s not. Fake 60 Minutes!"
.@60Minutes did a phony story about child separation when they know we had the exact same policy as the Obama Admin… https://t.co/7I3I4zpJvC— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1543197553.0
....children from parents, as did Bush etc., because that is the policy and law. I tried to keep them together but… https://t.co/Uh5gzYxGyY— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1543198047.0
Trump frequently says his policy was the same as former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. It's factually inaccurate. Trump's "no tolerance policy" written specifically into his order was the reason so many families were separated. In the Obama case, courts stopped the president from moving forward with his plan. The former president faced a huge influx of migrants coming over the border, while Trump's numbers are significantly lower. In Trump's case, he simply decided any migrant or refugee was unacceptable.
According to the chart from Customs and Border Patrol, Trump experienced a huge decline in migrants coming to the United States. Compare him (in orange) with Obama (in blue) below:
[caption id="attachment_1398622" align="aligncenter" width="660"]
Obama in blue. Trump in orange. (Graphic and data from Customs and Border Patrol)[/caption]
One former Homeland Security official revealed in the expose that the White House never even sought their input for tracking the children and ensuring families could be reunited. When they offered to help, the White House ignored them.
Obama is still referred to as "The Deporter-in-Chief" today for his deportations. The president begged Congress to act and pass meaningful immigration reform that would create a pathway to citizenship to those fleeing violence. Trump, by contrast, has been removing anyone, regardless of whether they have a criminal record. Some have even been pillars of their community and business owners.
