U.S. child migrant policy ‘wrong,’ says Trudeau; Trump changes course
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added his voice Wednesday to the global chorus condemning the Trump administration’s practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border — a practice the U.S. president abruptly reversed later in the day with the stroke of a pen.
Trudeau had been under pressure to condemn the so-called “zero-tolerance policy,” under which asylum seekers who cross illegally into the U.S. are charged with federal crimes and separated from their children, who are detained in guarded, fenced enclosures.
He’d remained largely silent on the issue, saying only that he did not want to “play politics” on immigration policy. On Wednesday, however, his position shifted, just hours before Trump appeared to capitulate to political pressure by reversing course with an executive order.
“What the Americans are doing is unacceptable — and it’s not just me who has said it; all kinds of Americans, including Republicans, have said this is unacceptable,” Trudeau told a news conference marking the end of the spring legislative sitting.