‘You can’t make this stuff up’: Stephen Miller receives backlash for calling Biden’s immigration policies inhumane
The architect of the Trump administration's immigration policy is receiving backlash after calling Joe Biden's immigration policies "cruel and inhumane".
Stephen Miller, who supported the "zero tolerance" policy that separated migrant children from their parents, told Fox News that the growing crisis on the Mexico border was the result of policies "enriching smugglers and traffickers who profit off of human misery".
"He is forcing thousands of young children into the arms of smugglers, into the arms of traffickers, into the arms of coyotes, children are being taken away from their families in the Northern Triangle, in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, those countries are being deprived of their future," Mr Miller said.
"These young, illegal immigrants are being put in harm's way, all because of a policy choice Joe Biden made to restore catch and release, that is cruel, that is inhumane, and we are seeing the results of that right now. He took a secure border. A humane border. A safe border. And he's turned it into this."
In the debate during the Wednesday night broadcast of Fox host Laura Ingraham's programme, immigration lawyer Kate Lincoln Goldfinch said the Biden administration's policies were looking at resolving what was driving migrants out of their countries.
"I think that's a really interesting twist to hear that this is all about protecting these kids," Ms Lincoln Goldfinch told Mr Miller.
"I can tell you my experience on the ground is that these kids are fleeing danger in the Northern Triangle."
Business Insider foreign policy reporter John Haltiwanger articulated the response on Twitter, which some users called "hypocrisy on steroids".
"Stephen Miller was the architect of Trump’s family separation policy and the administration’s draconian, inhumane immigration practices," he said.
"You can’t make this stuff up."
The White House has come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats after the decision to reopen migrant facilities for children was first reported by The Washington Post, which says the Biden administration has already "entered crisis mode" on the southern border.
They report the Biden administration is so concerned about running out of space for children that shelters have been authorised to purchase airfares and cover costs of minors with family already in the United States.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the "migrant facilities" this week, saying they weren't the "kids in cages" under the Trump administration.
“This is a difficult situation, and it’s a difficult choice,” she said. “That’s the choice we’ve made.”
The main distinction from the White House is that their policy does not separate children from their parents, but are rather focused on relocating children that enter the country without any adults.
While the so-called "cages" were created under the Obama-Biden administration during an unprecedented influx of migrants in 2014, they did not come into wider consciousness until the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy in the spring of 2018 that separated children from their parents.
The Biden administration has come under attack by both sides of the aisle, with progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joining the GOP in the criticism, though for different reasons.
“This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay — no matter the administration or party,” she tweeted.
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