#seperations

President Trump said on Tuesday that his administration has no choice but to separate children from parents who cross the U.S. border illegally — before essentially admitting it does.

“When you are prosecute the parents for coming in illegally — which should happen — you have to take the children away,” Trump said in a speech to independent business owners in Washington, D.C. “Now you don’t have to prosecute them, but then we’re not prosecuting them for coming in illegally.”

The president is facing bipartisan criticism for his administration’s “zero-tolerance” illegal immigration policy that has resulted in more than 2,000 children being separated from their families since April, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Many of the children separated from their families have been held in detention centers. In one such facility, hundreds of children were seen in a series of cages made of metal fencing.