This Thursday during a heated press conference, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the Trump administration’s detention of nearly 1,500 immigrant children by citing the Bible.

At one point, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Sanders about Attorney General Jeff Sessions recent comments where he said separating children from parents is rooted in the Bible.

“It is very biblical to enforce the law, that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible,” Sanders said.

Acosta and other reporters pointed out that there is no law on the books forcing immigration agencies to separate children from their families.

“Can you imagine the horror these kids must be going through when they come across the border?” Acosta asked. “They’re with their parents and they’re suddenly pulled away from their parents ― why is the government doing this?”

“Because it’s the law and that’s what the law states,” Sanders responded.

“It doesn’t have to be the law. You don’t have to do that,” Acosta said.

Asked about Jeff Sessions' claim that separating children from parents is rooted in the Bible, Sanders says "it it is very biblical to enforce the law." She then calls @Acosta dumb, saying, "I know it's hard for you to understand even short sentences." pic.twitter.com/LnQrBUvDBe — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 14, 2018

As HuffPost points out, reporters were allowed to see Texas facility housing nearly 1,500 immigrant children separated from their parents by the U.S. government for the first time this Wednesday. According to MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff, many of the children — who have been detained for months — are essentially sitting in a prison.

“I kid you not, one of the first things an employee of the shelter said to me is, when we walked inside, ‘Can you try to smile at these kids, because it’s weird to see people from the outside.’” Soboroff said on MSNBC. “They feel like animals locked up in cages being looked at.”

Featured image via screen grab