The man who helped Melania Trump become an American citizen is comparing the Trump administration's move to separate children from their parents at the border to Nazi Germany and the American slave trade.

U.S. Immigration lawyer Michael Wildes said the administration's hardlining showed "extraordinarily poor judgement" and reflected poorly on his country.

"All somebody has to do [is] look at passports with the letter J for Jew and the name 'Sara' or 'Israel' written next to each male or female's name to be reminded of a time when people were separated based on their strength, ethnicity or gender," he told As It Happens host Carol Off.

Images of detained children have been the subject of international outrage and raised questions over whether Trump is using their distress as leverage to ensure that bills which fund his border wall will pass.

A view of inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facility shows detainees inside fenced areas at Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., June 17, 2018. (CBP/Reuters)

Wildes, who is also representing Melania Trump's parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs of Slovenia, said that Trump's "zero tolerance" border policy is an example of taking "broken immigration laws and [making] them worse."

Melania Trump 'hates to see children separated'

Melania Trump, who has faced questions about working in the U.S. illegally in the past, recently spoke out against the scene at the border, saying she "hates to see children separated from their families."

"Melania Trump has great heart and compassion for children, as I believe ultimately the president does [too]," said Wildes on Tuesday.

Amalija and Viktor Knavs, parents of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, with Michael Wildes. (Getty Images)

"I don't believe the president to be a bigot. I believe he's trying to fix a broken problem but the way he's doing it is going to make things worse," he went on.

Wildes said that the dialogue around immigration has "deteriorated," with "beautiful principles" like family reunification recast as sinister and harmful to the U.S.

"Even President Reagan, a generation ago, gave 3 million people that were unlawfully present full-blown amnesty green cards, because he realized the country had to move forward," he said.

Written by Kate McGillivray. Interview produced by Jeanne Armstrong.