Melania's migrant visit fails to fix PR disaster
Trump's use of children to force the Democrats into a broader immigration deal was cynical and clumsy and got what it deserved.
Friday 22 June 2018 01:59, UK
It was a smart move by a beleaguered first family to send Melania Trump to a border detention facility where children are languishing, separated from their own families.
It was designed to illustrate two things.
Firstly that the first lady cares about their plight and, secondly, that the centres are not as bad as is being portrayed.
She was reported to have entered two classrooms where mainly Spanish-speaking children were learning English in reasonably comfortable surroundings.
The mystery is why they didn't release pictures of the children with Melania, after they apparently greeted her with smiles and applause.
But the truth is that no amount of public relations catch-up can undo the damage already done by the images of children in cages screaming for their mums and dads.
President Trump is in a dilemma. He was implementing the uncompromising immigration policy of two key members of staff, his chief adviser Stephen Miller, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Their advice was that such zero-tolerance approach was a way of deterring the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexico border every month.
In the event, it did no such thing.
They just kept coming and the result was separations, leaked pictures, harrowing audio and a PR disaster.
But it doesn't mean something does not need to be done.
In truth Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton all tried different ways to stop the influx, but to no avail.
Trump's attempt to use the children as a political weapon to force the Democrats into a broader immigration deal has clearly backfired. It was cynical and clumsy and got what it deserved.
But Trump will not let up because he believes a solution has to be found and he knows that immigration will be a key issue at the mid-terms.
It played well for him in 2016 and if he can pin the blame on the Democrats for obstructing funding for the wall his supporters are so enamoured without could well benefit him again.
But there is so little sign of common ground in Congress between two parties so bitterly divided on this and many other issues, that compromise is unlikely.
The Democrats believe the zero-tolerance approach amounts to a "racist, bigoted policy that amounts to internment". They hate the idea of the wall.
But they struggle to justify 'catch and release' as a workable alternative and other so called 'smart' border security measures are not well-tested.
They are also determined to get a path to citizenship for the children of historic illegal immigrants, or Dreamers. The result is an impasse that in many ways benefits Trump politically.
And that is the problem with immigration. One side or the other always seems to spy a political opportunity to exploit.
The victims have been apparent for all to see over the past few days.