Michelle Obama Seconds Laura Bush's Criticism Of Child Separation Policy
Former first lady Michelle Obama neatly criticized the Trump administration’s child separation policy on Monday, breaking from the Obamas’ practice of (mostly) staying quiet about the current president.
“Sometimes truth transcends party,” she wrote, pointing to former first lady Laura Bush’s Washington Post op-ed in which Obama’s Republican predecessor criticized the practice of separating immigrant children from their undocumented parents at the border.
Sometimes truth transcends party. https://t.co/TeFM7NmNzU
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 18, 2018
Former President Barack Obama retweeted his wife’s post shortly afterward.
Former first lady Hillary Clinton also backed up Bush’s criticisms against the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policy on Monday.
“What’s happening to families at the border right now is a humanitarian crisis,” Clinton said. “Every parent who has ever held a child in their arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.”
Despite what this White House claims, separating families is not mandated by law. That is an outright lie, and it’s incumbent on all of us – journalists and citizens alike – to call it just that.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 18, 2018
We should be a better country than one that tears families apart, turns a blind eye to women fleeing domestic violence, and treats frightened children as a means to a political end.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 18, 2018
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter spoke out as well, calling the practice “disgraceful” and “a shame to our country.”
Statement from former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter on children separated from their parents at the border: pic.twitter.com/WVg91SWutl
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) June 18, 2018
Democrats and Republicans alike have voiced opposition to the child separation policy, which the Trump administration has defended as a method to crack down on illegal entry into the country.
“Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war,” Bush wrote in her op-ed. “We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place.
This article has been updated to include comments from Clinton and Carter.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
