Democrats attacked President Donald Trump over the weekend for a photo of migrant children being detained by immigration enforcement — even though the photo was actually taken in 2014, druing President Barack Obama’s term.

Left-wing celebrities, media personalities, and politicians took to Twitter to rage against Trump’s supposedly inhumane policy of separating illegal alien children from their parents, citing an article in the Arizona Republic and published in azcentral.com.

They rushed to delete their tweets once confronted with the fact that the photo was taken in 2014, when Obama was president.

A lot of big names are sharing this article from 2014, but they didn’t say a word back when it actually happened under Obama. • Linda Sarsour – Women’s March co-founder

• Jon Favreau – Obama’s speechwriter

• Jake Silverstein – NYT Magazine editor-in-chief pic.twitter.com/R4AQEDM6BD — Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 27, 2018

CA Dem Antonio Villaraigosa left ‘speechless’ at the way Obama treated child immigrants https://t.co/aSymJxdkfY — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 28, 2018

Others blamed Trump for the policy of separating illegal alien children from adults — though it predates the Trump administration:

Tearing children away from their families is a horrifying tactic we’ve seen before from authoritarian regimes throughout time — and these cruel actions have absolutely no place in our country. President Trump, you have the power to stop this from happening. Do it. — Mike Capuano (@mikecapuano) May 27, 2018

The Trump policy of separating children from their moms is inhumane in the extreme. It’s barbaric. Period. https://t.co/Vq5lyvVA71 — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 27, 2018

The Arizona Republic article claimed, incorrectly, that the 2014 photo was the “first glimpse” of children in a holding facility for illegal aliens — ignoring the fact that Breitbart Texas editor Brandon Darby had already broken the story of unaccompanied minors being detained at the border.

One reason for the policy of separating children from adults appears to have been to deter human trafficking. Immigration officials who were unable to ascertain whether children were actually related to the adults with whom they were caught often placed the children under supervision or in temporary foster care.

Trump administration officials have also spoken about the policy as a deterrent to illegal immigration.

Darby took to Twitter over the weekend to explain — and noted that the left had attacked his original reporting in 2014 about the crisis of children at the border:

Hooooly crap. They’re actually deleting their outrage tweets now that they realize the photo was from 2014 and depicted how Obama Admin treated migrant children. Un effing believable. https://t.co/WOsCrjE36w — Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) May 28, 2018

1. Many times minors crossing with “parents” turn out to be children being used by strangers to enter the US. Many “parents” aren’t the parents —or even family members. — Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) May 27, 2018

Here’s the original 2014 piece I published that The Nation and others downplayed and attacked me over. Notice they falsely claim I called it an “invasion” and that it was “propaganda.” See for yourself. https://t.co/UpkukoqQnE — Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) May 27, 2018

The mainstream media, unable to pursue the left’s original line of attack — i.e. to paint the Trump administration as uniquely inhumane — seized on a tweet that the president posted Saturday, blaming Democrats for obstructing immigration reform that, he says, could theoretically end the policy:

Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

ABC News reported Sunday evening that the president was attempting to “deflect blame”: “The president’s efforts to deflect blame also comes amid a #WhereAreTheChildren backlash on social media against the policy.”

Critics say there is no “law” that requires separating illegal alien children from their parents, but rather a policy that could be ended by the president.

There is also concern that the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reportedly lost track of nearly 1,500 of the illegal alien children it has placed with families in the U.S.

However, it is unclear whether the children are “missing,” or whether they are in the care of relatives who have failed to report their whereabouts to the government.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.