Democratic Senator Brian Schatz on Thursday stated that Congress could fix the policy of separating migrant families at the border and could pass both chambers next week if it’s proposed as stand-alone legislation.
“Stop pretending that banning the separation of children from parents is complex legislation,” Schatz tweeted Thursday.
The Senator also outlined how lawmakers could change the language.
“It’s ONE LINE, and it could pass ‘on suspension’ in the House on Monday, and by Unanimous Consent in the Senate on Tuesday. Attaching it to a bigger immigration bill is killing it,” Schatz wrote.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump accused Democrats of stonewalling the policy last month and challenged them to come up with legislation to change it.
Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, announced a “zero tolerance” policy at the border last month, saying that everyone caught entering the U.S. illegally will be charged as a criminal.
The policy results in parents being separated from their children while facing legal prosecution.
However, Sessions on Thursday defended the policy by citing the Bible as justification.
“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions said during a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.
Democrats and immigration advocates are against the measure because according to them it is inflicting unnecessary trauma on innocent children.
Republicans defend the policy by saying it existed long before the Trump administration started enforcing it broadly.
The Hill reported that Schatz’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate introduced legislation last week to prevent the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the border.
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