Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Backing President Trump’s misleading assertion Saturday that Democrats are behind a “horrible law” that separates parents from their children at the U.S. border, the White House released a statement early Monday accusing Democrats of “cruel and inhumane open-borders policies.” Democrats are “responsible for encouraging mass illegal migration, enabling horrendous child smuggling, and releasing violent MS-13 gang members into American communities,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. “Their lawless policies spread human suffering and finance criminal cartels,” he said. The Trump administration’s attempt to shift the blame for a policy pushed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions comes amid mounting outrage over reports immigration authorities have lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children in recent months. A top official with the Department of Health and Human Services disclosed the figure last month but said the government is “not legally responsible” for the children after they are sent to live with sponsors.