Trump says it is the Democrats' fault children are being taken away from their families at the US border

US President Donald Trump has blamed Democrats for his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, which has prompted widespread outrage.

Nearly 2,000 children have been split from those caring for them a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by the Associated Press. They show that 1,995 minors were separated from 1,940 adults between 19 April and 31 May.

Reports say some are as young as four months old, and stories of weeping children torn from the arms of their frightened parents have flooded the media. The policy has been widely criticised by church groups, politicians and children’s advocates who say it is inhumane.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders justified the policy on Thursday by describing it as biblical: “It is very biblical to enforce the [particular immigration] law, that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible.”

When asked why his administration was enforcing the policy during an impromptu and wide-ranging interview with Fox News on the White House lawn yesterday, the president insisted he “hates” it but that his hands were tied by existing law, for which he blames the Democrats.

“The Democrats forced that law upon our nation,” Mr Trump told reporters. “I hate to see separation of parents and children. I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law. That’s the Democrats’ law. We can change it tonight. We can change it right now. That’s a Democrat bill. That’s Democrats wanting to do that and they could solve it very easily by getting together.”

“That’s the law and that’s what the Democrats gave us and we’re willing to change it today if they want to get in and negotiate but they just don’t want to negotiate.”

Despite Mr Trump’s repeated assertions, there is no law – Democratic or otherwise – that mandates the separation of parents from their children, the Associated Press reported.

Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, when a family is caught entering the US illegally, the parents now are routinely referred for criminal prosecution, even if they have few or no previous offences.

That typically means detention for adults, pending their trial. Under US protocol, if parents are jailed, their children are separated from them because the children are not charged with a crime.

Until the policy was announced in the spring, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation.

During the Fox News interview, and despite his repeated insistence that he wanted to improve the situation, Mr Trump also threw into confusion Republican efforts to pass immigration legislation designed to ameliorate it.

Two Republican bills are currently having the finishing touches to them by Mr Trump’s party. The first is a hard-right proposal, the second the more moderate plan negotiated by the party’s conservative and centrist wings, with White House input.

Only the latter would open a door to citizenship for young immigrants brought to the US illegally as children, and reduce the separation of children from their parents when families are detained crossing the border.

“I’m looking at both of them,” Mr Trump said when asked about the proposals during the Fox and Friends interview, adding: “I certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.”

The White House later backtracked on the comments, formally endorsing the measure and saying the president had been confused.

However, the comment prompted widespread confusion among his own party and jeopardised its plans for votes on both bills next week.

Leaders released a schedule for next week that included “possible consideration” of immigration legislation.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Paul Ryan had told colleagues that Trump supported the middle-ground package.

White House aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner who has been accused of trying to sabotage immigration deals in the past, told conservative lawmakers at a closed-door meeting that the president backed that plan.

Associated Press contributed to this report