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
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
