Avenatti to Trump: Stay off the golf course, start reuniting migrant children and parents

Dianna M. Náñez | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Attorney Michael Avenatti says the current migrant policy is outrageous Attorney Michael Avenatti met with migrant children in Phoenix on Thursday. He called the Trump Administrations policies on immigration 'outrageous'.

Michael Avenatti rose to fame representing adult-film star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump. But the spirited attorney is also battling Trump on policy.

Avenatti made headlines apart from Daniels’ lawsuit when he announced he was representing some 60 parents who were forcibly separated from their children under the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance" border enforcement policy.

When first lady Melania Trump traveled to Arizona last week to visit detention facilities for migrant children, Avenatti directed his appeal to her, as a mother and an immigrant.

“I think the first lady is an exceptional mother and I think as a mother she will be deeply moved … as I have been every time I’ve met with children,” he said in an interview with The Arizona Republic. “No one can have the president’s ear like the first lady, I would urge her to use that asset for the benefit of these children.”

Avenatti has made President Donald Trump his primary target, haranguing him on social media and news talk shows, but Trump has remained uncharacteristically silent toward the LA-based attorney.

But the battle may have reached a climax on the Fourth of July, when Avenatti announced on Twitter and in interviews that he is up for challenging Trump in a presidential bid.

President Avenatti?: 'I will run'

Using the hashtags #FightClub and #Basta, which means "enough" in Spanish, Avenatti wrote that he’d enter the race if the president seeks re-election and no candidate with the fortitude to beat him runs.

“IF (big) he seeks re-election, I will run, but only if I think that there is no other candidate in the race that has a REAL chance at beating him,” he wrote. “We can't relive 2016. I love this country, our values and our people too much to sit by while they are destroyed.”

IF (big) he seeks re-election, I will run, but only if I think that there is no other candidate in the race that has a REAL chance at beating him. We can't relive 2016. I love this country, our values and our people too much to sit by while they are destroyed. #FightClub #Basta — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 4, 2018

Avenatti leverages Twitter much as Trump does — firing off opinions, wading into controversy and rallying supporters with blistering criticism. Unlike Trump, who has limited direct contact with the press, Avenatti makes weekly media rounds.

Continuing his Twitter outburst Wednesday, he said "only a street fighter has a chance at displacing the 'King,’" noting that in 2016 Trump beat traditional political candidates.

On Thursday, he blasted Trump as weak on trade, saying the president’s “bravado will ultimately cost Americans jobs.”

Trump did not respond to Avenatti on Twitter, but has not backed away from his hard-line immigration policies.

“When people, with or without children, enter our Country, they must be told to leave without our Country being forced to endure a long and costly trial,” he wrote in a series of tweets on Thursday. “Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn.”

.....Country being forced to endure a long and costly trial. Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn. Hiring thousands of “judges” does not work and is not acceptable - only Country in the World that does this! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018

A vote for Democrats in November is a vote to let MS-13 run wild in our communities, to let drugs pour into our cities, and to take jobs and benefits away from hardworking Americans. Democrats want anarchy, amnesty and chaos - Republicans want LAW, ORDER and JUSTICE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2018

Avenatti: 'Government created this mess'

Avenatti continued to hint at a presidential bid Thursday, describing himself as “solidly pro choice” and remarking on the type of judge he’d nominate to fill a U.S. Supreme Court seat. Trump has said he'll announce his choice to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9.

“Would never nominate a justice to the SCOTUS who did not believe in Roe or who would seek to outlaw same sex marriage. Fully support equality for women & people of all races, & gay rights," he wrote on Twitter. "We don't separate families at the border. And we don't kiss-up to Putin.”

But his attention remained on Trump’s immigration policies and reuniting separated families, including at least five children detained in Phoenix facilities. In late June, Avenatti visited Arizona to meet with the children, delivering a letter to Samir, a 6-year-old boy from Honduras, separated from his mother who was at a detention site in Texas.

The boy gave Avenatti a picture of Disney's Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" that he'd colored in red, green and purple, asking that it be delivered to his "mami" because "it showed a princess like her."

Meet Samir, Levis’s six yr old boy (pic taken after we read his mother’s letter to him). For the first hour, he kept saying “not true” when we would tell him his mami loved him and she sent us to him. He asked us to take this to his mami - he said it showed a princess like her. pic.twitter.com/4968nMIF74 — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) June 21, 2018

On Thursday, Avenatti posted an image of an email detailing a haunting account of a mother from Honduras whose children have been placed in a foster home.

The email, in which redacted names were redacted, claimed that a mother separated from her three children, ages 6 to 13, feared her children were "being abused by the foster mom."

A child said she was afraid "she would not get to eat or would get hit."

I know that Mr. Trump's golf game is BIGLY important and he can't be bothered with silly things like reuniting families. But here are the realities facing these mothers and children. Welcome to what the hundreds of lawyers involved in this fight see on a daily basis. #FightClub pic.twitter.com/TshWJSs6w1 — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 5, 2018

Many of his clients, Avenatti said, are from Guatemala and speak an indigenous language few U.S. translators speak.

“Children do not have anyone to even communicate with and have no idea what (is) going on…...Imagine how isolated and afraid those children must be,” he wrote. “And imagine if that was your child! Mr. Trump needs to skip one or two holes on the golf course and solve this NOW.”

Many of the mothers he represents have been unable to speak with their children and despite a high-profile visit with the boy detained in Arizona, a majority of his requests to visit with children he represents have been denied, he told The Republic.

“The government created this mess...by not having an adequate method for reuniting children with their parents,” he said. “They ripped these children from the arms of their parents. The most important thing is that these children do not end up orphans.”

Feds: 'Under 3,000' children still separated

On Thursday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that “under 3,000” children remain in federal custody forcibly separated from their “purported parent.”

In a call with reporters, Azar added that about 100 of those children are younger than 5 years old.

The Trump administration is facing a deadline tied to a federal court order to reunite children, which Azar said the government would meet.

To comply with the order, children younger than 5 must be reunited with their parents by Tuesday, and those 5 to 17 years old must be reunited by July 26.

Avenatti pleaded for continued pressure on the president to comply with the order.

“Weeks have gone by and Mr. Trump is doing very little to reunite families," he wrote. "Trump is hoping you simply forget and move on.”

Weeks have gone by and Mr. Trump is doing very little to reunite families. We have seen no movement on the 60+ families we represent. Trump is hoping you simply forget and move on. We are doing everything we can to reunite these mothers with their children. It must happen NOW. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 5, 2018

Avenatti said he would partner with anyone, from attorneys and human rights advocates to celebrities and faith leaders, fighting to reunite each child with their parent.

Until that happens, the California attorney born in Sacramento said that each morning, he'll check in with mothers without their children and children without their mothers.

And each day, he says, he'll log onto Twitter to address his 610,000 followers in a barrage of blistering tweets aimed at his foe in the White House.

READ MORE ON THE BORDER CONTROVERSY: