Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Former first lady Laura Bush has hit out at “cruel” and “immoral” separations of families at the U.S. border with Mexico, comparing the policy with World War II Japanese internment camps. In a rare public statement, the wife of George W. Bush wrote in The Washington Post: “I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart. Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history.” Bush's intervention comes after first lady Melania Trump called for more “heart” in her husband’s border policies.