In what has to be a historic moment, all five living first ladies have now issued statements demanding an end to the Trump administration’s decision to separate asylum-seeking families at the southern border. First, Melania Trump issued a statement saying she "believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."
Next up, Laura Bush dropped an op-ed in the Washington Post and she didn’t pull any punches.
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.
Michelle Obama followed up by retweeting Laura Bush and saying, "Sometimes truth transcends party."
Hillary Clinton hit hardest in a must-watch speech where she blasted Trump's blatant immigration lies and called on women to lead.
Parents being told their toddlers are being taken to bathe or play, only to realize hours later they aren't coming back. Children incarcerated in warehouses and, according to one account, kept in cages. This is a moral and humanitarian crisis. Every one of us who's ever been a parent or grandparent, an aunt, a big sister, any one of us who's ever held a child in our arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged. [Applause]
You know, I warned about this during the debates and on the campaign trail that Trump's immigration policies would result in families being separated, parents being sent away from their children, people being rounded up and loaded into trains and buses. And now as we watch with broken hearts, that's exactly what's happening. And let's be very clear. This is not happening because of the, quote, Democrats' law, as the White House has claimed. Separating families is not mandated by law at all. That is an outright lie. And it is incumbent on all of us, journalists and citizens alike, to call it just that. [Applause]
And now, Rosalynn Carter has joined with her fellow first ladies to call this action what it is, “disgraceful and a shame to our country.”
When I was first lady, I worked to call attention to the plight of refugees fleeing Cambodia for Thailand. I visited Thailand and witnessed firsthand the trauma of parents and children separated by circumstances beyond their control. The practice and policy today of removing children from their parents’ care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country.
Can you imagine we live in a time when all living first ladies have to unite against an American policy? SHAME!