Rep. Mia Love pushing bill to end 'horrible' separation of families at border


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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, said Monday she is pushing a provision in a new immigration bill to end President Donald Trump's "horrible" policy of separating children from their immigrant parents at the border.

Love said Trump is expected to meet with the House Republican conference Tuesday to hear details of the legislation, which also calls for increasing border security and dealing with undocumented adults brought into the country illegally as children.

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Love said the administration's controversial zero-tolerance policy is "something that touches me personally" and raises the question of "who we are as Utahns and as Americans."

She said the policy, announced in early May by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is "horrible. You can see these children, these innocent children, being ripped from their families. It's absolutely terrible."

Love said her message to Trump is: "This is not a right or left issue. This is right or wrong. This is what it takes to be the leader of the free world. This is what it takes to be the leader of a free country, to be able to stand up and do the right thing."

Her comments come as the Republican president continues to blame Democrats for the policy that the government reports lead to the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their families between April 19 and May 31.

Trump brought up the immigration issue at a meeting of the National Space Council, saying "what's happening is so sad" but that Americans "want a safe country, and it starts with the borders. And that's the way it is."

The country, he said, "will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It won't be. If you look at what's happening in Europe, if you look at what's happening in other places, we can't allow that to happen to the United States — not on my watch."

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Love, who faces a tough re-election challenge from Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, said she has been working since last week to include a provision dealing with a separation policy in a compromise immigration bill.

McAdams "supports ending this horrific policy," said his campaign manager, Andrew Roberts. He said Love's silence when the policy was ramped up in April "shows that she puts party loyalty to the president ahead of the needs of children and families."

Love said the revised bill is expected to come up for a vote in the House next week.

She was among a small group of largely moderate Republicans behind an attempt to force the House's GOP leadership to allow a vote on several pieces of immigration legislation through a rarely used discharge petition.

Changing the law to spell out that families crossing the border into the United States must be kept together when they are being held by the Department of Homeland Security will take power away from the president, Love said.

Immigrants, whether they are seeking asylum or are caught entering the country illegally, "won't be in limbo any longer," she said, subject to "someone changing their minds."

Trump initially said he would not support the compromise being worked on in the House, but then representatives from the White House said he would. Love said she did not know how the president would react to the latest version.

LDS Church Statement

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long expressed its position that immigration reform should strengthen families and keep them together. The forced separation of children from their parents now occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border is harmful to families, especially to young children. We are deeply troubled by the aggressive and insensitive treatment of these families. While we recognize the right of all nations to enforce their laws and secure their borders, we encourage our national leaders to take swift action to correct this situation and seek for rational, compassionate solutions."

-Eric Hawkins, LDS Church spokesman

Other members of Utah's congressional delegation also weighed in on the president's policy, which has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats around the country, including former First Lady Laura Bush, who said it was cruel and immoral.

Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee and a candidate for U.S. Senate in Utah, tweeted a link Monday to an op-ed by Bush in The Washington Post, and wrote, "I agree that we need a more compassionate answer."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called for a change in the president's policy.

"The United States should not separate children from their parents except in rare circumstances where the parent is a threat to the child," Lee said. "This does not appear to be the case for many separations currently occurring at our southern border."

Lee said in a statement that a solution needs to be found "that allows migrant families to pursue their asylum claims without overburdening our law enforcement infrastructure."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed with the "sentiment behind" a statement made by Trump last week that appeared to criticize his own policy, according to his spokesman, Matt Whitlock.

Hatch said in a statement that while he recognizes "the difficulty the last two administrations have faced with regard to families illegally crossing the border, I wholeheartedly agree with the president's comments that a policy that leads to separating children from their families is wrong."

Utah's senior senator, who is not seeking re-election after 42 years in office, said he is "working with colleagues in both houses on a path forward that recognizes the need for compassion for children and families without incentivizing illegal border crossings. That solution can and should be bipartisan."

The newest member of the state's congressional delegation, Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, said he, "like so many Utahns, am extremely troubled by news reports of small children being separated from their parents at our southern border."

He said although he recognizes the "need to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to secure and protect our borders, I do not believe that separating families is consistent with who we are as a country — and it most certainly doesn't reflect the Utah values I was elected to represent in Congress."

Curtis said he will be at the House GOP meeting with Trump Tuesday and plans "to push very hard to see that the administration takes every effort to keep families together through the legal process determining their eligibility to remain in the U.S."

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who has a separate provision in the compromise bill intended to make it easier for security to operate on federal lands along the border, said "due respect" must be given to families impacted by the policy.

"Compassion and security are not mutually exclusive. Our borders must be secured, and we must give due respect to the family unit," he said, adding that security "requires a wall and guaranteed access to the border for immigration agents."

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