Sen. Lisa Murkowski and more than two dozen other senators wrote President Trump Friday urging that he use all available resources to reunite migrant families that were detained after crossing the southern border.
“Enforcement of our immigration laws should be a high priority,” the senators wrote, “but we must also adhere to our core moral values as Americans.”
The letter asks Trump to make keeping families together the default policy.
Including Murkowski, 10 Republican senators signed the letter. Among them is Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., one of the most conservative senators, and frequent Trump critic Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. The list of Democrats includes Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, one of the most liberal senators.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan’s name is not on letter. His spokesman says Sullivan was not asked to sign it, but he agrees with its main points.
In a separate statement, Murkowski said there are more effective and humane ways to enforce immigration law that don’t require family separation.
“This sad chapter in our nation’s history must come to an end,” Murkowski said in the written statement.
The Texas Tribune reported Friday that the government still has some 2,000 children over five who must be reunited with their parents before a court-imposed deadline on Thursday.
