Presidential candidate Rep. Tim Ryan slammed President Trump Tuesday for his administration’s handling of child detainment on the U.S.-Mexico border, accusing the president of using migrant child separation policy as a political play.
The Ohio Democrat told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that conditions at the facility were “inhumane,” describing kids “laying down in the flu, laying down in their own snot [and] not having showers for weeks.”
“This is inhumane and it’s unacceptable in a country that’s as powerful as us. Are we strong enough, Poppy, are we strong enough to be able to take care of these kids? Are we strong enough to cut through the politics and all the fear the president tries to promote to turn these kids into something other than human beings,” he asked.
“The president needs to pick up his daily briefing. He needs to figure out a strategy in Central America where these families and kids are coming from and solve the problem. He wants this to be a political issue. This is what he wants. Every single day he’s in the news about being tough on immigrants, well go fix the damn problem in Central America.” Mr. Ryan said.
“Let’s show a little bit of humanity here and take care of these kids and process this in the right way, but the leader of the country should be a leader and that means go fix the problem in Central America, and the president’s not doing that because he’s not a leader, he’s not a leader at all. He’s a TV host. He’s running The Apprentice out of the White House and kids are suffering and it’s unacceptable and we should pass something to take care of these kids. Period. End of story,” Mr. Ryan continued.
When asked if he would support an emergency bill to appropriate funds for these facilities, Mr. Ryan said he was “inclined” to say yes.
“We’ve got to get something done here and it’s not going to be perfect and it’s got to get through the Senate and I know that’s a frustrating thing for a lot of people but that’s the reality of it,” he said.
Mr. Ryan is one of 24 high-profile Democrats looking to challenge Mr. Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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