President Donald Trump will be “signing something” on immigration to keep migrant families together, the Associated Press reported.
The AP tweeted on Wednesday: “BREAKING: Trump says he’ll be “signing something” on immigration, wants to keep migrant families together.”
BREAKING: Trump says he'll be "signing something" on immigration, wants to keep migrant families together.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 20, 2018
Reuters White House reporter Steve Holland also tweeted that Trump would be singing something “preemptive” on immigration.
Pres Trump tells WH pool he will be signing something "preemptive" in a little while on immigration, per @robertarampton
— Steve Holland (@steveholland1) June 20, 2018
According to the AP, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen drafted an executive order for Trump to sign that would direct her department to keep immigrant families together after they are detained for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
The AP cites two people familiar with Nielsen’s thinking, adding that it’s unclear what Trump might be supporting, but that he said he would be signing something “in a little while.” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters about the possibility of an executive order on immigration: “We’ll keep you posted. When we have an announcement to make, we’ll make it.”
Trump had tweeted earlier Wednesday that he was “working on something.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009431025817092097
However, the New York Times reported that any executive order would be flouting a court settlement that prohibits the move. The Times continued that, though the order would keep families together, Trump could be violating the same legal constraints on the proper treatment of children in government custody that former President Barack Obama faced two years ago.
Although Trump, other GOP officials and conservative media commentators have defended the “zero tolerance” policy that has led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents, according to the New York Times, the administration has been loudly criticized. Images of migrant children in detention centers and the subsequent stories that detail the conditions in those facilities have led to the practice being labeled as “inhumane” and “evil.”