US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday cited the Bible in his defense of his border policy that is resulting in hundreds of immigrant children being separated from their parents after they enter the US illegally.
Sessions, speaking on immigration in Fort Wayne, Indiana, pushed back against criticism he had received over the policy.
On Wednesday, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church said that separating mothers from their babies was “immoral.”
Much of the criticism was not “fair or logical and some are contrary to law,” Sessions said.
“I would cite you to the apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government, because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions said.
“Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful,” he added.
Last month, Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy that any adult who enters the US illegally is criminally prosecuted.
US protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents, because the children are not charged with a crime.
More than 650 children were separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border during a two-week period last month, US Customs and Border Protection data showed.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday said that she had not seen Sessions’ comments, but affirmed that the Bible did back up the administration’s actions.
“I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible,” Huckabee Sanders said “It’s a moral policy to follow and enforce the law.”
In an unusually tense series of exchanges in the White House briefing room, Huckabee Sanders wrongly blamed US Democrats for the policy separating children from parents and insisted that the administration had made no changes in increasing the use.
Until the policy was announced in April, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, which do not require separation.
“The separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that Democrats refuse to close, and these laws are the same that have been on the books for over a decade, and the president is simply enforcing them,” Huckabee Sanders said.
“We don’t want this to be a problem,” she added.
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