Former President Barack Obama issued his first statement on President Trump's zero tolerance approach to illegal immigration on Wednesday, describing the practice of family separation as "cruel."

"To watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?" Obama wrote in a Facebook post timed to coincide with World Refugee Day.



Obama added Americas hold the common ideal "that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve the chance to become something better."

"That’s the legacy our parents and grandparents and generations before created for us, and it’s something we have to protect for the generations to come," he continued. "But we have to do more than say 'this isn’t who we are.' We have to prove it – through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes."

Obama's statement follows his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, wading into the family separation controversy on Monday when she shared on social media an opinion piece by fellow former first lady Laura Bush, which called the Trump administration's stance "immoral."

President Trump on Wednesday announced he intended to sign an executive order stopping minors being taken away from their parents or guardians as the Justice Department prosecutes all illegal border crossings.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday defended the splitting of children and adults, saying it happened under the Obama presidency as well.

"The Obama administration, the Bush administration all separated families. They absolutely did. Their rate was less than ours but they absolutely did do this. This is not new," Nielsen said.

Prior to Trump's zero tolerance policy being enforced, family units would have only been broken up if a parent-child relationship could not be confirmed or if a child was at risk in the company of the adult.