Associated Press

By Jacqueline Tempera | MassLive.com

Following reports that almost 2,000 children were separated from their parents at the border because of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy, the country reacted.

In thousands of posts to social media immigration advocates, politicians, and others lined up on both sides of the policy.

Some, including former First Lady Barbara Bush called the practice "immoral" while others defended the action as a safety measure.

See some of the reactions below.

Don't Edit

Former First Lady @laurawbush called the zero-tolerance immigration policy "cruel" and "immoral" in an op-ed for the @washingtonpost. https://t.co/yPuhHHdO08 — Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Just landed in Houston. Now on flight to McAllen with my colleagues to see with my own eyes the impact of this disgraceful child separation policy. #NotInMyName — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Unnecessarily separating desperate people from their children is cruel. This is true regardless of whether they are... Posted by Smith Lilley on Friday, June 15, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

.@secnielsen, this isn’t true. I just met with officials at Border Patrol Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, who told me 1,147 children have been separated from parents at their facility. https://t.co/1Z5WXMClbJ — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

No photos allowed inside detention center in McAllen, Texas. Saw dozens of kids by themselves in cages. Met a woman who hasn’t seen her daughter in two days. This is not America. #NotInMyName #FathersDayofAction #KeepFamiliesTogether — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

#NotInMyName

Fix this, GOP. Stand up to Trump and do the people's work. We will remember in November. pic.twitter.com/TT0MT8sBLp — YesBiscuit (@YesBiscuit) June 16, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Trump isn’t Hitler and these children’s Internment camps aren’t Birkenau but they are immoral.The gas chambers at Birkenau had flower boxes and the selection process was designed to keep the doomed calm. Classical music played and people were told they were going to the showers https://t.co/XrxPMyGmFl — Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

This is NOT the America my parents dreamed of when they brought my family to its shores. #NotInMyName https://t.co/rJP0iUErP0 — victoria criado (@victoriacriado) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

**Long post ahead** Many of y'all know that immigration policy issues and reforms are the most important to me and the... Posted by Rachel Taylor on Monday, June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Seriously, fuck you. Reunite the families at the border and we can talk about father's day. https://t.co/bbG0gVqfzq — John Legend (@johnlegend) June 16, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

John Oliver: “Democrats did not give them these laws, because—and I cannot stress this enough—there is no law that suddenly required separating parents from their children. This is a result of a deliberate policy choice by Jeff Sessions.” https://t.co/spffpwfuZq — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have defended the savage separation of children from their... Posted by Weston Mathews on Thursday, June 14, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

AP Photo

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

.@BetoORourke on #CNNSOTU: the US will be ‘judged’ for its actions regarding border separation https://t.co/kkm9GtYI6c — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

A running list of how to help fight family separation at the border: https://t.co/c818TKkP6u pic.twitter.com/07IO0VjRsF — Slate (@Slate) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

We polled Trump's family separation policy.



We even asked if it was appropriate to do it "in order to discourage others from crossing the border illegally.”



27% agreed, 56% disagreedhttps://t.co/zmfax0kmgz — Sam Stein (@samstein) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

"If they don't like that law, they should change it," @KellyannePolls says on Congress changing the family separation policy at the border. #MTP — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

This misreporting by Members, press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry. — Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period. — Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

The battle over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration is intensifying, with lawmakers in both parties condemning it as cruel and inhumane.@gayleking is in McAllen, Texas, leading our team along the southern border. https://t.co/M0Xo4E8wQb pic.twitter.com/Zv18r8r6gQ — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Chain link fences, mattresses on the floor and families queuing to be processed -- and oftentimes separated. These are the photos of the processing detention center in McAllen, Texas, that the Customs and Border Protection agency wants you to see. https://t.co/gxjuiYfdPT pic.twitter.com/uo54NAF7Hg — CNN (@CNN) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Thinking about the children separated from their parents by US Border Patrol is testing my usual historian’s reluctance to compare anything to the Nazis. I don’t think the US is planning a genocide. But I do think this policy is designed to provoke terror by echoing history. — Alex von Tunzelmann (@alexvtunzelmann) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

AP Photo

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Separating children from their parents is something that happens before or during genocides - Germany etc, Armenia, Cambodia, & Rwanda too I think - & it has also been a policy in “cultural genocides”, eg of Indigenous Australians & First Nation Canadians. — Alex von Tunzelmann (@alexvtunzelmann) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Laura Bush forgot to mention that Donald Trump took an oath to uphold U.S. Law.



What's taking place at the border is a result of laws that have been passed by the U.S. congress. — Phil 🇺🇸 USA (@phil200269) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

#BREAKING Separating children from parents at US border 'unconscionable': UN rights chief pic.twitter.com/SusNnj5IjQ — AFP news agency (@AFP) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

.@GovMikeHuckabee: "I wish things were different on the border. I wish things were different for those children— and they could be, if you had some Democrats with the integrity to work with the president and get it resolved." @WattersWorld pic.twitter.com/9C5E7NlWpj — Fox News (@FoxNews) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

v

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Pres. Trump says U.S. policy separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border is law. It's not. https://t.co/Ry0AUHD8fB pic.twitter.com/12yGXbTjw5 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Often the Border Patrol rescues families from the backs of sweltering trucks, from crowded smuggler “safe houses,” and from desolate wilderness. Their facilities aren’t anyone’s idea of home, but they’re temporary shelters and infinitely better than where most migrants are found. https://t.co/Ve75bAolZm — Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Confronted by daily images of families being traumatized at the border, Republican lawmakers plan to increase pressure on President Trump to roll back a "zero tolerance" immigration policy, GOP sources say https://t.co/y3qqKD7HfU — Axios (@axios) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

What it is is a humanitarian and political crisis https://t.co/oafs3d0foZ — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

On #FathersDay & every day, I could not imagine a better dad for Charlotte & Aidan than Marc. I also could not imagine being forcibly separated from my children as I sought sanctuary. No parent, no person should support this: https://t.co/uUNs6yFklD — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Trump Continues To Lie About His Child Separation Policy At The Border Trump keeps saying Democrats are responsible for separating families at the border (they're not) Posted by NowThis Politics on Friday, June 15, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Ahead on @CBSThisMorning, @GayleKing is live from the Southern border in Texas where she has spoken with migrant families who have been recently detained and separated. pic.twitter.com/b6NkGt9re6 — CBS News (@CBSNews) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

A reminder that @lomikriel broke the story on family separations seven months ago. Glad y'all have found your way to the subject, but do yourself a favor and start following her. (From November 2017: https://t.co/7MSXqesg2w) — Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) June 17, 2018

Don't Edit

'They are going to have these kids for longer periods of time because who are they going to reunify them with'



RT Vigil becomes protest as outrage grows over separation of families at U.S. border https://t.co/XsTl1hgbk2 via @HoustonChron @alysonward — lomikriel (@lomikriel) June 18, 2018

Don't Edit