Ivanka Trump has claimed she is “vehemently against” the separation of parents and children at the US-Mexico border but stopped short of condemning her father’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
Donald Trump’s daughter, speaking at an event hosted by the Axios website in Washington DC, also parted company with the president over his description of the media as “the enemy of the people”.
Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are senior advisers at the White House and have been widely criticised for failing to take a stand more frequently.
When interviewer Mike Allen put it to her that the family separations at the border were a low point for many staff during the first 18 months of the administration, Trump admitted: “That was a low point for me as well. I feel very strongly about that, and I am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children.”
She continued: “I think immigration is incredibly complex as a topic, illegal immigration is incredibly complicated. I am a daughter of an immigrant, my mother grew up in Communist Czech Republic, but we are a country of laws ... We have to be very careful about incentivizing behavior that puts children at risk of being trafficked, at risk of entering this country with coyotes or making an incredibly dangerous journey alone.”
Trump added: “These are not easy issues, these are incredibly difficult issues and, like the rest of the country, I experience them in a very emotional way.”
The president’s hardline policy led to the separation of thousands of children from their parents. In June, Trump performed a U-turn of sorts and signed an executive order to keep families together. But the process of reuniting families has been slow: a third of children remained separated from their parents when last week’s court deadline passed.
Speaking at the Newseum, the president’s daughter was also asked whether she agreed with Trump’s frequent characterisation of the media as “the enemy of the people”.
She said: “I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate, so I have some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripe, especially when they sort of feel targeted, but, no, I do not consider the media the enemy of the people.”
Later on Thursday, Trump sought to deny he is at odds with his daughter on the issue. “They asked my daughter Ivanka whether or not the media is the enemy of the people,” he tweeted. “She correctly said no. It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!”
Recent media reports have suggested that Trump and Kushner have weathered various White House storms and now intend to stick it out at the White House for the long term. Trump announced last month that she is shutting down her controversial fashion brand so she can focus on her work in Washington.
Last year, Trump told the Associated Press “there’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children”, as Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore was accused of making sexual advances toward teenage girls when he was in his early 30s. Moore was endorsed by Donald Trump but lost. But her interventions remain rare.
Symone Sanders, the former national press secretary for Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, tweeted: “Ivanka Trump is here to make this all seem normal. A reminder that it is not. Also, family separations are still happening.”
