What the White House told WFAA about zero tolerance

EL PASO, Texas – On Tuesday, as criticism grew from around the world, the Trump administration initiated a series of interviews with local journalists, including WFAA, to explain the administration’s zero tolerance policy on families entering the United States illegally which results in children separated from their parents.

“We want people to come to the country but we want them to do it legally,” said Helen Aguirre Ferre, the White House Director of Media Affairs.

Congress faces mounting pressure to find a solution to the separations.

“People in my District are very concerned about this issue,” said Congresswoman Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, in a statement on Tuesday. “There needs to be a better way to secure our borders. These children did not make the choice to cross the border and shouldn’t be punished for it. I have been working with House Republican leadership to resolve this in a way that protects our borders and our values.”

Congressional leaders, including Granger, met with the president on Tuesday afternoon.

So far, Aguirre Ferre said, Homeland Security has separated 2,000 children from their parents. About 100 are held at the Tornillo Port of Entry – east of El Paso – and some have already been reunited with their parents. “Yes, we have had those situations where they have been reunited,” Aguirre Ferre added, though she couldn’t say how many.

When asked whether President Trump might postpone zero tolerance as Congress considers solutions, Aguirre Ferre said: “We only have two options. Either you have catch and release as we did under the Obama administration which is in effect open borders or you have zero tolerance. That’s the choice.”

Only families entering illegally get separated, she added. Parents seeking asylum remain with their children. But, as WFAA reported Monday night, the U.S. is turning away asylum seekers because detention centers are full and there’s nowhere to house them as they await to see a judge.

Still, Aguirre Ferre said the president is looking for a permanent solution to immigration which is something Congress has been unwilling to tackle.

In El Paso on Tuesday, more than 500 people, significantly more than organizers expected, marched to protest both the separated children and asylum seekers who are turned away.

“I’m mad. I’m ashamed. I’m terribly ashamed. This is not the America I know,” said Patty Woods, marcher. Anger drove many to the streets. “Everybody is very upset. Everybody is outraged. This was the last straw,” said Fernando Garcia, Border Network for Human Rights which helped organize the protest.

The protest march happened just before lunch as the temperature approached triple digits. The group of more than 500 marched more than a mile to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility. “We’re closing the detention center today, symbolically,” Garcia added.

Protestors blocked one of the entrances to the facility for about an hour as CBP officers and a couple El Paso policemen looked on.