Read GOP Sen. Ben Sasse's powerful takedown of Trump's 'wicked' family separation policy
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R) went in on the Trump administration's new "no tolerance" policy of separating children from their parents at the border, calling it "wicked" and "harmful" in a powerful Facebook post published Monday. "The administration's decision to separate families is a new, discretionary choice," Sasse wrote. "Anyone saying that their hands are tied or that the only conceivable way to fix the problem of catch-and-release is to rip families apart is flat wrong."
Sasse joins a mounting, bipartisan chorus calling for President Trump to end the policy, which he has falsely blamed on Democrats. But while misinformation has been rampant, Sasse attempted to explain to his constituents that "this bad new policy is a reaction against a bad, old policy" that allowed for both unlawful immigration and human trafficking.
"This foolish catch-and-release policy had to be changed," Sasse wrote. "But changing from catch-and-release does not require adopting the wicked family separation policy. The choice before the American people does not have to be 'wicked versus foolish.'" Read his entire post at Facebook here.
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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.
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