Fox & Friends host says child detention centers don't have cages: 'I'm from a farm community … it's more like a security pen to me'


The Trump administration has faced unrelenting backlash over its new policy of separating children from their parents at the border, with outcry mounting in recent days following the release of new footage and images of the detention facilities. On Fox & Friends on Monday, host Steve Doocy apparently tried to stem the fervor by observing that while some people refer to the facilities as cages, "I'm from a farm community, I see the chain-link fences, it's more like a security pen to me."
As the Independent Journal Review's Josh Billinson observed on Twitter, "'They're not in cages, they're being kept like livestock' is not a great defense."
Regardless of whether they're using "cages" or a four-sided chain-link fence enclosures, the Trump administration has separated some 2,000 children from their families in the six-week period between mid-April and the end of May — a move that pediatric experts have described as "government-sanctioned child abuse." CBS News reported Monday that U.S. Border Patrol is "very uncomfortable" with the use of the word "cages" because while "they may be cages, [the people] are not being treated like animals."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watch the segment on Fox & Friends below. Jeva Lange
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Mexico’s forced disappearances
Under the Radar 130,000 people missing as 20-year war on drugs leaves ‘the country’s landscape ever more blood-soaked’
-
The Week contest: Racoon’s regrets
Puzzles and Quizzes
-
Housing costs: Is deregulation the answer?
Feature Washington, D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood is now leading the nation in new apartment construction
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants