Former DHS Official, Religious Leader React To Trump Administration Immigration Policy

President Trump defended his administration's policy of forced separation of migrant children from their families at the border.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said he would not allow the United States to become "a refugee facility." "Just remember, a country without borders is not a country at all," said the president. "We need borders, we need security, we need safety, we have to take care of our people."

Trump's hard line posture comes as a growing number of Republicans joined Democrats this weekend calling for the administration to change its policy.

Even former First Lady Laura Bush called the policy "cruel... and immoral." Writing in the Washington Post, Bush wrote: "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."

But Trump was undeterred. He doubled down on Monday, repeating his false assertion that Democrats are to blame for a policy enacted by his administration:

Immigration is the fault, and all the problems that we're having, because we cannot get them to sign legislation, we cannot get them to the negotiating table. And I say it's very strongly the Democrats' fault. They're obstructionist, and they are obstructing.

Alan Bersin, former assistant secretary in the Office of Policy for the Department of Homeland Security and former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America: The Jesuit Review. He tweets @jamesmartinsj.