海角大神

The optics 鈥� and the reality 鈥� just got to be too much: Babies and toddlers ripped from their parents鈥� arms, and put in 鈥渢ender age鈥� shelters. Children sitting in cages, wailing for Mami and Papi. Undocumented immigrant parents in anguish over losing custody of their children, as they await possible deportation 鈥� unsure of whether they will ever see their kids again.

Until Wednesday, President Trump defiantly insisted that only Congress could solve the crisis of family separations at the US-Mexico border, triggered by an administration policy implemented in May. But amid a revolt by allies, including Republicans in Congress and the Rev. Franklin Graham, the president took action, and signed an executive order Wednesday that temporarily allows migrant families that enter the US illegally to be held in detention together.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to keep families together,鈥� Mr. Trump told members of Congress.

Critics liken Trump to a fireman who sets a fire, puts it out, then claims credit for saving the day. But nobody in Washington comes out of this crisis looking good. With November midterms looming, and control of both congressional houses on the line, Democrats in particular sought to take advantage of the heartbreaking images of distraught children 鈥� sending out email petitions and, in some cases, fundraising.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer played political hardball over the border crisis, refusing to support a proposal by Republican senators aimed at solving the problem. 鈥淲hen the president can do it with his own pen, it makes no sense,鈥� Senator Schumer told reporters.

But the real challenge for Trump came from within his own party. Republican members of Congress 鈥� leaders, key committee chairs, rank and file 鈥� came out against the family separations. A June 14-17聽 found 55 percent of Republican voters, in fact, supporting the practice of family separation, the only demographic group showing majority support, but that figure is far lower than Trump鈥檚 overall support among Republicans. Americans overall oppose the separation of migrant parents and children, the poll showed.

In short, it was a losing issue for Republicans, especially those trying to save their seats 鈥� and their party鈥檚 majorities on Capitol Hill 鈥� in November.

鈥淭he danger for Republicans,鈥� says GOP pollster Whit Ayres, was that the administration was creating an environment where people felt the only way they could stop this was to vote for Democrats 鈥� 鈥渆ven in races where there are Republican candidates they like and admire.鈥�

Mr. Ayres adds that the Trump administration was holding 鈥渁 losing hand,鈥� and Trump seemed incapable of admitting error. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 look weak if you reverse a mistake, you look smart,鈥� Ayres says.

But for the president, backing down clearly was a difficult decision:聽

鈥淚f you鈥檙e really, really pathetically weak, the country鈥檚 going to be overrun with millions of people,鈥� he said Wednesday. 鈥淎nd if you鈥檙e strong, you don鈥檛 have any heart. That鈥檚 a tough dilemma. Perhaps I鈥檇 rather be strong.鈥�

Reversal could trigger lawsuits

All along, Trump鈥檚 posture has been that his administration had no choice but to separate illegally migrating parents from the children they had brought with them. He said he was just carrying out the law. But it was a policy change 鈥� a call to refer all illegal Southwest border crossings to the Department of Justice for prosecution聽鈥� that triggered the new practice of family separation.

Now, with Trump鈥檚 order keeping families together in federal immigration custody, the president could face a new legal challenge: possible violation of the so-called Flores settlement of 1997, which limits the duration of child detentions to 20 days.

But for now, Trump can say that he has halted further family separations.聽

In a call with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Gene Hamilton, counselor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said the Justice Department would ask the judge to modify the terms of the Flores consent decree to facilitate the administration's approach toward detention of families. In addition, Mr. Hamilton called on Congress to pass legislation that will help close what the administration views as loopholes in US immigration law as a result of Flores.

The family separation issue consumed lawmakers on the Hill, overshadowing a Senate trying to debate spending legislation and a House moving toward a vote on two Republican bills to address the fate of young immigrants, or 鈥淒reamers.鈥�

Chaos and protest

鈥淚t鈥檚 a complete mess,鈥� observed Theresa Cardinal Brown, an immigration expert at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in advance of the president鈥檚 meeting with House Republicans聽Tuesday. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen this much chaos since the travel ban.鈥�

Also highly unusual: The president was heckled by Democratic lawmakers as he left聽Tuesday鈥檚聽meeting. They held signs and one of them shouted: 鈥淢r. President, Don鈥檛 you have kids?鈥�

Members of both parties said they were deeply disturbed by the media accounts and images of the separated children at the border. But they came at it from two different perspectives 鈥� not surprising, given the highly charged nature of the issue and midterm elections just around the corner.

As he did with Dreamers, Trump initially threw the family separation issue to Congress to fix. Republicans 鈥� even while admitting the president had the authority to fix it himself 鈥� set quickly to work to come up with solutions. They appeared not to want to directly cross the president.聽

The scenes of the children were 鈥渢errible,鈥� said Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas on Tuesday. He promised a fix within a matter of days 鈥� a position backed by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.聽On Wednesday, Senate Republicans introduced a bill to keep families together in safe facilities and to hire 225 more immigration judges to speed up processing.

Democrats were far more graphic in their denunciation of the separations, for instance, making comparisons with America鈥檚 Japanese internment program in World War II. They put the onus on Trump to fix a problem he created with his 鈥渮ero tolerance鈥� policy of criminally prosecuting everyone who crosses the border illegally.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 not at all surprised,鈥� said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California Wednesday, as reports of the new executive order surfaced.聽鈥淚 mean everybody has spoken out against it, including the pope, including the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and I think everything that we believe in is made a mockery of by separating children from their parents.鈥�

The issue has caused alarm among his constituents, says Sen. Chris Coons (D) of Delaware. He鈥檚 been struck by the range of people up and down his state who have texted, called, emailed, and sent private Facebook messages, including Republican activists. People who had his private cellphone number 鈥� and had promised not to disturb him unless it was an emergency 鈥� considered this a 鈥渂reak-the-glass鈥� moment and contacted him to do something, he says.

Will Congress take action?

It鈥檚 not clear whether Congress will act in the wake of the executive order. Behind the scenes, senators from both parties are talking with each other. During votes聽on Wednesday, Senator Feinstein could be seen in long conversations with聽key Senate Republicans who have been working on family-related legislation. She has her own bill that is supported by all of the Democrats.聽

On the larger issue of border security and 鈥淒reamers,鈥� it鈥檚 hard to see this going anywhere without a bipartisan effort 鈥� yet that is not the path taken by House Republicans.聽On Thursday, they are expected to vote on two measures, a more hardline version that does not see a path to citizenship for Dreamers, and a more moderate, compromise measure among House Republicans that does. Neither looks to have enough support among Republicans to pass on a party-line vote, and House Democrats oppose both bills.聽

鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 going to take both parties and the president coming together鈥� to make progress on immigration, says Ms. Brown. It is the continued use of immigration as an election issue that has brought the country to this point of 鈥渢ragedies,鈥� says Brown.

鈥淢ultiple Congresses, with various configurations of Republicans and Democrats, have been punting on immigration for a very long time. It鈥檚 resulting in all of these tragedies that we鈥檙e seeing. Tragedies of Dreamers. Tragedies of [families] at the border.鈥�

Staff writer Warren Richey contributed to this report.