Washington (CNN) Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, said President Donald Trump should end the immigrant family separation crisis at the border with a stroke of his pen and retract his executive order that created "massive confusion."

Cardin said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" that Trump "created this ... cruel policy by calling a parent who is trying to protect the life of his child a 'criminal.' "

"This policy has to end now, and the President of the United States can end it now," he said. "It doesn't have to wait for congressional action. We're calling upon the President to end this policy and let children be able to stay with their parents."

He stressed a serious need for "transparency" from Trump, who he asserted "changes the rules all the time."

"We need to know where children are being held, what is happening there at the border, what the policy of the country is -- this is the United States," said Cardin. "Once again, I underscore that if the President created this crisis, he can end it with a stroke of the pen."

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