Even assuming the worst, it is hard to imagine that anybody — even in this White House — planned to have Melania Trump’s seemingly heartfelt public statement about cherishing and protecting children utterly neutralized — almost mockingly — by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ s ice-cold reiteration of protocols for dealing with immigrant families seeking asylum status in the United States.
But there Sessions was — just hours after the first lady said that “children deserve every opportunity to enjoy their innocence” — talking tough about parents who bring their children across the southern border in an attempt to escape the violence and constant danger in their own countries. Without a hint of compassion in tone or content, Sessions declared that federal agents will arrest parents and detain children, apparently of any age, in facilities separate from the detention centers holding the parents.