Rep. Marsha Blackburn: 'Liberals' and 'liberal judges' to blame for migrant family separations

Michael Collins, The Tennessean | Nashville Tennessean

WASHINGTON – Rep. Marsha Blackburn expressed sorrow Tuesday for immigrant children who are being separated from parents accused of entering the country illegally, but she placed the blame for the separation policy on “liberals” and “liberal judges” instead of President Donald Trump.

“As a mother, my heart breaks for the families who are separated at the border, but we are in this position because liberals would not pay to enforce our immigration laws or build appropriate facilities for asylum seekers,” the Republican congresswoman and candidate for U.S. Senate said in a statement released by her congressional office.

A look inside a border detention center Nearly 2,000 children have been taken from their parents since the Trump administration announced its "zero tolerance" policy.

“Liberal judges ruled that meant we couldn't keep kids with their families,” Blackburn said. “That lapse in judgment put us in the difficult position of choosing between enforcing our laws or keeping families together. We don't have to choose if we fix this problem, secure our borders and keep people from coming across our border illegally and choosing to put their families in danger.”

More: President Trump continues to blame Democrats for his family separation approach on immigration

More: GOP Sens. Corker, Alexander: Stop separating immigrant children, parents at the border

Blackburn, who is seeking the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Bob Corker, did not say whether she believes the Trump administration should end the policy.

Blackburn is a vocal backer of Trump and has made her support of his administration a central part of her campaign for statewide office. Trump campaigned for Blackburn at a rally in Nashville in late May.

Blackburn's likely Democratic opponent in November, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, soundly condemned the separation policy.

“At our border with Mexico, our country is taking terrified little children from their parents and incarcerating them in camps behind chain link fences," he said in a statement. "The whole process is secret—the press has been prevented from doing their job. Any normal American is horrified."

Bredesen said the separations are no longer Trump's problem—"It is America's problem," he said.

"Thankfully, we live in a strong nation, full of parents, faith leaders and many others from all parts of the political spectrum who have condemned this policy," Bredesen said. "We have placed ourselves on a morally bankrupt path. Today, the real test of our strength as a nation is not whether we’ve made a mistake, it’s whether we recognize where we’ve failed and fix it. Now.”

Rep. Diane Black, another Trump supporter who is seeking GOP nomination for governor of Tennessee, has remained silent on the family separation policy. Her congressional office did not respond Tuesday to request for comment.

Blackburn’s statement on the policy comes as other Republicans in Tennessee and across the country are speaking out amid wrenching images and audio of children crying as they are taken from their parents.

Both of Tennessee’s senators – Republicans Corker and Lamar Alexander – added their voice on Monday to the growing chorus of lawmakers who are calling for an end to the separations.

“The administration should use all tools available to stop needless family separation without delay, and Congress should act swiftly to address the serious challenges facing our nation’s immigration system,” said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Over in the House, Reps. Phil Roe of Johnson City and John J. Duncan Jr. of Knoxville also issued statements expressing regret families are being separated without saying explicitly that the Trump administration should end the policy.

“No one wants to see families separated, but I’ve long said we need comprehensive immigration reform in this country that begins with border security,” Roe said. “For too long, selective enforcement of our country’s immigration laws has incentivized illegal border crossings leading people coming here illegally to feel there is no consequence to doing so. … We must all work together to stop illegal immigration in a way that is consistent with the values and priorities of our country.”

More: 'Papá! Papá!’: Immigrant children at detention center cry for parents in heartbreaking audio

Duncan also said no one wants to separate children from their families but stressed the need for “a legal, orderly system of immigration.”

“I believe that we should enforce our existing laws and especially make sure that our borders are secure first,” he said. “It has been said that if you do not have borders you do not have a country.”

Asked to clarify whether Duncan is in favor of separating families or ending the policy, Duncan’s spokesman Don Walker said: “He wants to keep families together.”

The separations are the result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance policy” of criminally prosecuting all immigrants who cross the border illegally.

Under that policy, adults suspected of crossing the border illegally are sent to federal jails or other detention centers to await prosecution. If they have children accompanying them, the young people are placed in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, because children cannot be held in adult facilities. Nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents under the policy over the past six weeks.

The separation policy has been condemned by not only by political leaders, but also religious figures, members of the medical community and five former U.S. first ladies.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-South Pittsburg, praised Trump for enforcing immigration law.

“Thousands of families legally immigrate to the United States every year, following all the rules,” DesJarlais said. “Those who break the law risk consequences – potential detention, separation from their families and prosecution – just as any American citizen would.”

Echoing a narrative used by the Trump administration to justify the family separations, DesJarlais said the nation’s “de-facto open borders” mean that foreigners in places such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador stay behind but send their children alone into the custody of federal immigration authorities.

Drug gangs and the criminal gang MS-13 transport unaccompanied minors across the border from Mexico, he said.

“They and their families could remain together if adults would simply follow the law,” DesJarlais said. “The president is enforcing it as he promised he would during a winning campaign.”

The two Democrats in the Tennessee’s congressional delegation – Steve Cohen of Memphis and Jim Cooper of Nashville – denounced the separation policy.

Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen “are responsible for children being torn from the arms of their mothers and fathers,” Cohen said. “That is the truth.”

The separation “is inhumane, un-American and unnecessary and must be reversed,” he said.

Cooper used similar verbiage to blast the policy.

“I cannot recall a more cruel, inhumane or un-American policy that our nation has ever endured,” he said. “To deliberately separate children from their families is an unspeakable betrayal of America’s history. The problem is not how much to criticize it. The problem is how to solve the problem.”

Cooper also said the policy could be handled by the White House with a phone call.

“If the White House fails to act, Congress should act — Congress must act — and we only have a few days to do it,” said Cooper, who is co-sponsoring legislation that would prevent children from being separated from their parents.

Reporter Jordyn Pair in Nashville contributed to this story.