A journalist at the daily White House press briefing Monday played an audio tape of crying illegal immigrant children while Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was defending the administration’s policy of separating families who enter the country illegally.

Near the end of Ms. Nielsen’s press briefing, while she was still talking, the audio recorded by ProPublica could be heard playing on a journalist’s laptop or other electronic device in the briefing room. The sound of the crying children went on for more than 30 seconds; it wasn’t clear who was playing the tape during Ms. Nielsen’s presentation.

The recording of the sobbing of 10 Central American children, separated from their parents one day last week by U.S. immigration authorities at the border, went viral earlier in the day. The children scream “Mami” and “Papá” repeatedly.

It didn’t appear that Ms. Nielsen could hear the sounds from her position at the podium.

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