After more than 25 days unseen, Melania Trump is back in the public eye and has now made a rare statement on the current immigration policy that's causing children to be separated from their parents at the border.
Her communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN: "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."
Her statement echoes the administration's current rhetoric, which blames Democrats for this new practice. Just this Friday, President Trump said, "I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That's their law."
However, the true reason parents are now being separated from their children at the border is due to a Trump administration "zero tolerance policy" unveiled in May that criminally prosecutes adults caught crossing the border illegally, causing children to be taken away and placed as unaccompanied minors.
According to CNN, almost 2,000 children were separated from their parents between April 19 and May 31.
Kellyanne Conway has shared a similar sentiment, telling NBC, "As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who has a conscience... I will tell you that nobody likes this policy."
It's unlikely that Conway or Trump, a mother and immigrant herself, are lying when they say they hate seeing children separated from their families. But claiming as though this policy is unrelated to President Trump's actions is simply a distraction.
Madison is the digital deputy editor at ELLE, where she also covers news, politics, and culture. If she’s not online, she’s probably napping or trying not to fall while rock climbing.
