Hundreds join Fathers' Day march to camp where Trump administration is separating children from families

Hundreds of people have demonstrated outside a tent camp in Texas that is being used by the Trump administration to house migrant children deliberately separated from their parents under a “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

The government announced last week it had opened the camp at Tornillo, 40 miles southwest of El Paso. It is the latest facility to house children who have tried to cross the border by themselves or been split from their families as the result of the enforcement of rules intended to dissuade people from trying to enter the US.

It said between April 19 until May 31 2018, 1,995 youngsters had been separated from their parents under the new approach. On Sunday, as temperatures in Tornilo passed 100F (37C), hundreds of protesters and local politicians gathered at the facility. The protest had been organised by Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging Republican Ted Cruz to become a senator on November’s midterm elections.

“At the moment that [these children] finally thought they had reached safety, refuge, were going to petition for asylum, they were taken from their parents, and are now in Tornillo with no idea of when or if they will see their mothers or their fathers on this Father’s Day again,” Mr O’Rourke told CNN.

“Things have to be really bad for you to leave Honduras, travel 2,0000 miles, if you’re lucky, on top off – not inside of – a train known as The Beast, or La Bestia, with your child.”

He added: “To literally take your and your child’s life into your hands and hope that you will make it here. Once you get here to try to request asylum, only to find that your child will be taken from you.”

Donald Trump has in recent days found himself at the centre of mounting controversy after the government revealed the number of children being split from their families. A number of traditional supporters of the president, including members of the clergy, have said the policy is wrong and urged him to change it.

Mr Trump, who is due to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss the issue with legislators, has claimed, inaccurately, the policy was established by the previous administration and he can do nothing about it without the cooperation of Democrats to completely overhaul immigration. Critics say Mr Trump is seeking to use the children as leverage as he seeks to push legislators to provide funds to pay for a border wall.

While some children were separated by their families during the administrations of Barack Obama and George Bush, last month Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that officials would start prosecuting all people who tried to cross the border illegally.

The new approach meant the Department of Justice would prosecute everyone crossing, even those seeking to make asylum claims.

As a result of the shift, people travelling with children were detained rather than being charged and released. The children were not charged, but were held separately

Mr Sessions last week used a passage from the bible to defend his department’s policy.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” he said, during a speech to police officers in Indiana.

“Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.”

One shelter in Brownsville, Texas, which holds nearly 1,500 boys aged 10 to 17, recently opened its doors to the media. The facility, which reporters said resembled a jail, only permitted the young people for spend two hours outside each day.

Republican congressman Will Hurd, whose district includes about one third of the US-Mexico border, toured the new tent facility on Friday. Other legislators were able to examine other facilities on Sunday. He said the conditions were reasonably good.

He said each air-conditioned tent had bed space for 20 children and two adults, and there were showers, bathrooms, medical facilities, fire trucks and spaces for children to meet with case management workers and lawyers.

But he told the El Paso Times: “At the end of the day, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we should not be using children as deterrents when it comes to our broken immigration system.”

Experts on child health have also criticised the policy. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been speaking out against the policy since last year, when reports the White House was considering such a step.

​“Separating children from their parents contradicts everything we stand for as paediatricians — protecting and promoting children’s health,” said AAP president Colleen Kraft. “The new policy is the latest example of harmful actions by the Department of Homeland Security against immigrant families, hindering their right to seek asylum in our country and denying parents the right to remain with their children.”

On Sunday, senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway sought to distance the White House from the controversy.

“Nobody likes breaking up families and seeing babies ripped from their mothers’ arms,” Ms Conway, a counselor to the president, told NBC.

“As a mother, as a Catholic, as someone with a conscience…I will tell you that nobody likes this policy.”

Ms Conway sought to blame Democrats, saying if they were serious about overhauling the system, “they’ll come together again and try to close these loopholes and get real immigration reform”.