The State Department tweeted Tuesday about travel advice for families. It was probably ill-advised, considering many Americans are outraged about the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border.
"Happening soon! Join our colleagues from @TravelGov for a Facebook Live event at 10:00 a.m. ET to ask your questions about traveling with kids and to hear their tips to make traveling with the whole family easier," the State Department account tweeted.
As Raw Story and others pointed out, folks online did not receive the tweet and Facebook Live event well. Collections of responses, for instance, showed Facebook users sarcastically asking what size their child's cage would be or what their child would be jailed for doing.
Prob not the best time to tweet this, State Department... https://t.co/7tfucVLje0
— Andrew Freedman (@afreedma) June 19, 2018
The policy of family separations has removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. Recent reports showing photos of children in chain-link cages, as well as audio from ProPublica of children wailing for their parents after being separated, have led to public uproar. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans have stepped forward in recent days to urge President Donald Trump to end the policy.
Trump has falsely blamed Democrats for the separations, while his administration has claimed Congress must fix the issue. The separations, however, are mandated by the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy that Attorney Jeff Sessions announced in April.
The president continued his attacks on undocumented immigrants on Tuesday, suggesting they "infest" the United States.
"Democrats are the problem," the former reality TV star tweeted. "They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!"
Later Trump tweeted again, this time pinning the blame on Congress.
"#CHANGETHELAWS Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration," he tweeted. "Get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have strong border security."
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