The Trump administration defended its hardline immigration policy at the US-Mexico border on Monday as furore grew over the separation of immigrant parents and children, including video of youngsters sitting in concrete-floored cages.
Democrats blasted such treatment as "barbaric," while a few of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans also voiced concern as the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives moved toward voting later this week on two pieces of immigration-related legislation.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, a Trump appointee, told reporters at a White House briefing that the administration was only strictly enforcing the law.
"This administration did not create a policy of separating families ... What has changed is that we no longer exempt entire classes of people who break the law," she said.
The outcry over the detained children resulted from the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance" policy, in which immigrants apprehended entering the United States illegally are criminally charged under the criminal entry statute, known as 1325.
Parents who are referred by border agents for prosecutions are held in federal jail, while their children are sent to separate detention facilities, some in remote locations. Video footage released by the government showed migrant children held in wire cages, sitting on concrete floors.
An audio recording said to capture the sounds of immigrant children crying in a detention facility was circulating online. Reuters could not independently verify its authenticity.
Trump administration officials say the zero-tolerance policy, which was not practised by the two previous presidents, is needed to secure the border and deter illegal immigration.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the policy during an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News on Monday.
"We are doing the right thing. We are taking care of these children. They are not being abused," he said.
But Democrats and some Republicans have admonished the administration for separating nearly 2,000 children from their parents between mid-April and the end of May.
"The increasing number of children being ripped away from their parents is sickening," said Democratic Senator Michael Bennet. "Yet the president and his administration continue to perpetuate falsehoods and blame others for their own cruelty."
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said after visiting an immigration detention centre in San Diego: "Our message to Mr Trump is, stop this inhumane, barbaric policy." Pelosi also called on Nielsen to resign over the dispute.
