PARENTS and children separated by U.S. border officials for illegally entering the U.S. should be compensated by the Trump administration,  Congressman Joe Crowley said on Wednesday.

“The damage that has been done to these children, to these family units, will be life-long.

“In fact, I suggest that they need to be compensated for what this administration did to them,’’ Crowley told newsmen.

Crowley, a Democrat from New York, said he has “no specifics in mind” regarding the appropriate form of compensation for the affected immigrant families.

“How it should be done, I don’t know. And whether it ever will be done, I don’t know either.

“This government inflicted damage on the lives of these children and these families, that I do know,’’ he said.

The Trump administration has come under fire for its zero-tolerance policy against illegal immigration which has led to the separation of up to 3,000 immigrant children from their parents.

After a video clip of a child in a cage at the U.S.-Mexico border went viral, Trump issued an order to halt separations.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had said the U.S. government was on track to meet a court-ordered July 26 deadline.

The court had asked government to reunite all migrant children over five years of age with their families. (Sputnik/NAN)

– Jul. 25, 2018 @ 18:45 GMT |