Democratic presidential candidates are pouncing on President Donald Trump's hard-line border stance a day after a devastating image went viral, showing a father and young daughter who appeared to have drowned in the Rio Grande which flows between the U.S. and Mexico.
Julián Castro, former HUD Secretary under the Obama administration and 2020 presidential hopeful, said the image was "heartbreaking."
"It's heartbreaking because you know what they were looking for was a better life in this country," Castro told Cheddar hours before he was set to take the stage at the first Democratic debate in Miami, Florida.
The photo, shot by Julia Le Duc of the Associated Press, shows Andrés Manuel Lopez Óbrador laying dead with his 23-month-old daughter Valeria.
"I hate it," President Trump told reporters prior to departing the White House Wednesday en route to Japan for the G20 Summit.
The deaths come as the Trump administration faces new criticism for returning more than 100 migrant children to a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas that was reported to be unsanitary.
At an event in the White House on Tuesday, President Trump told reporters he is "very concerned" about the situation with detainee facilities, but claimed, "They're much better than they were under President Obama."
On Wednesday, the Senate approved bipartisan legislation which would provide $4.6 billion in aid for the migrant crisis at the border. The bill is similar to a package the House approved on Tuesday. Now the two chambers will have to work together to approve a bill which they can send to the president before the Independence Day recess.
Nevertheless, Castro says the deaths of Óscar, and his daughter, Valeria, were avoidable.
"This is preventable, and my immigration plan would end metering, and prevent situations like this," Castro said.
Castro, the only Latino running for president, has received praise for his comprehensive immigration proposal released in early April. The plan explicitly states it would end "metering" - a policy that limits the number of asylum seekers per day - as well as provide a path to naturalization for people without authorization.
"The family separations that we see today are made possible by the fact that you criminalize somebody being undocumented in this country, and I don't believe that that's the way to go," Castro added.
He referred to his proposal as a new Marshall Plan, explaining that it would guarantee safety for individuals in Central America so they do not feel the need to come to the United States in the first place.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is the clear frontrunner on Wednesday's debate stage, submitted a statement to HuffPost, that supported Castro's plan to make "illegal entry" a civil offense rather a federal misdemeanor.
Warren said, "We should not be criminalizing mamas and babies trying to flee violence at home or trying to build a better future."
Castro is clear as to what is a driving force behind his immigration plan: saving lives.
"We need to immediately stop denying the ability of people trying to make their asylum claim so that tragedies like the one that we saw, that happened to Óscar and Valeria, don't happen again," Castro later said.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
