Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Parents and children are being separated at our Southern border. The images are heart wrenching. One shows a 2-year-old Honduran girl crying as her mother is frisked by Border Patrol agent. Critics lay blame at the feet of Republicans. However, the policy of separating illegal alien parents from children happened under the Obama administration. Thousands of parents unauthorized to enter were deported and some 40,000 children were placed in foster care. However, that didn't receive much attention by the mainstream news media. The difference is that the Trump administration is making greater efforts to prevent illegal entry into our country. What's happening is troubling. We must find a humane way to treat the children and reunite them with their parents. But as a matter of national security, the borders must be secured as well.