Fox host defends child separation policy as 'tough love'

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Aaron Rupar)

published 19 June 2018

The Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant parents from their children at the border has been widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike, but several Fox News hosts have doubled down on defending the practice.

Speaking Tuesday morning on Fox News, Fox Business Network host Trish Regan said that the government "[needs] to create the right kind of incentives. Right now the incentive is sure, come here." Regan claimed that "if [immigrants] know they run the risk of being separated from their child for an indefinite amount of time, maybe they rethink that." She described it as "maybe a kind of tough love environment, where the U.S. government is saying, you know what? You do something illegally and you're not going to be rewarded for it."

The separation policy has been condemned as "child abuse" by the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Watch Regan's defense below. Jeva Lange

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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.