The press has gone into hyperbolic overdrive criticizing the Trump administration for separating families caught illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. They clearly want the public, against all evidence, to believe that questionable processing of illegal-immigrant children and their families only began after Donald Trump took office last year.

But in January 2016, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and a Senate committee issued lengthy reports about unaccompanied children who were released to human traffickers. White House reporters, particularly at AP, utterly failed to push the Obama administration over how this was allowed to happen.

The children involved ended up in exploitative situations and worse specifically because Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services deliberately relaxed sponsor vetting procedures.

It’s especially galling that AP reporters at Earnest’s briefings who were, as was then the custom, granted the privilege of asking the opening questions — Darlene Superville on January 27, Kathleen Hennessey on January 28, Josh Lederman on January 29, and Kevin Freking on February 1 — never asked Earnest about their own reporter’s damning investigative work. – READ MORE