Washington (CNN) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday that the recent crisis of undocumented children being separated by their families is part of a "diabolical scheme" created as part of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance policy" to look tough on immigration.

"This has been a barbarous process from the beginning," Inslee, a Democrat, told CNN's Poppy Harlow. "It has been a diabolical scheme and the President playing chess, you know, he's sort of been willing to sacrifice a few pawns, which are these children, in his effort to, I guess, look as tough as he wants to be."

Inslee is one of six governors who sent a letter to the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security last week demanding answers to questions about the children in custody. The governor told CNN that their group has not received replies from either department.

"We are grossly dissatisfied with the government's response," Inslee said. "They have given us nothing but inaccurate information. They've gone so far last week to suggest that they would consider just placing these children with foster parents as a reunification plan and call it good, which is totally dissatisfactory."

The comments come as the Trump administration faces pressure to reunite thousands undocumented children separated from their families on the US-Mexico border since the institution of the administration's zero-tolerance policy.

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