MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski blasted Ivanka Trump and other members of President Donald Trump's administration Friday over their praise of the president ending the process of separating migrant families at the United States' southern border.
Brzezinski's impassioned attack came as her show Morning Joe aired emotional footage of a mother from Guatemala being reunited with her 8-year-old daughter on Thursday, 55 days after they had been forcibly separated. Angelica Gonzalez-Garcia said she was fleeing domestic violence in her home country before, at a detention center in Arizona, an immigration agent wished her a "Happy Mother's Day" and took her daughter from her.
Brzezinski said the video was "very hard to watch when you realize this happened because of policies in the United States of America."
The separation of children from their parents came as a result of the Trump administration's "Zero tolerance" immigration policy announced in April, which criminally prosecuted everyone who crossed the border illegally. Trump signed an executive order last month that, while not ending the policy, stopped the separation of families. Close to 3,000 children remain separated from their families, however, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Still, after signing the order, those close to Trump, including his daughter, praised the president.
"Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border," Ivanka Trump tweeted. "Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families".
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2018
It was those comments, and others, that were slammed by Brzezinski Friday as she watched a mother in tears upon being reunited with her daughter at Boston's Logan airport.
"For some reason, some people who work for President Trump, including his daughter, are twisting this and actually thanking President Trump for moments like this, moments he created," she said. "How sick, how sick for someone in the White House to tweet 'thank you' to Donald Trump for these reunions. Because these reunions, they should have never happened, these children should never have been taken away from their parents."
After criticizing Fox News host Laura Ingraham for calling child detention centers "summer camps," Brzezinski seemingly returned to the subject of the president's eldest daughter.
"Thank you, President Trump? How sick and how twisted that we are doing this with our policy and we are twisting the truth to make it look like the president created a happy day for these people," she said. "How utterly sick. This is not where we need to be and at some point I pray that all Americans get it."
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