(Austin American-Statesman) Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller insisted Tuesday that President Donald Trump does not have a “zero-tolerance” immigration policy at the southern border.
“That’s fake news,” Miller said in a phone call with the American-Statesman. “Trump has not issued a zero-tolerance policy. That’s incorrect. Untrue. Fake news.”
The Statesman contacted Republican office holders around the state for their opinions on children being separated from parents on the border. Miller’s comments were defiant and the most supportive of Trump.
When told that the Justice Department announced a “zero tolerance” policy in April, Miller didn’t seem convinced.
“The Justice Department may have said that, I’m not sure if that’s correct, either,” he said, “but what they’re doing is enforcing the laws on the books. This is not a new policy. It was done under Obama and Clinton.”
Miller said children don’t get to stay with parents who have committed a crime, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that children are being separated from adults who entered the country illegally, he said.
“I can’t think of anybody I’ve ever known that got arrested, and their kids got to go to jail with them,” he said. “I mean if they bust a meth house, they go in, arrest the mother and the father, and the kids are taken away from them. They go to CPS. There’s not one instance in our country, north, south, east or west, where the parents commit a crime and the kids get to go to jail with them.”
Trump is receiving negative coverage to deflect from his successes as president, which include improving relations with North Korea and enforcing immigration laws, he said.
“Kind of another Stormy Daniels,” Miller said. “Big to-do about nothing. He’s doing exactly what he said he would do: put America first.”
