Ivanka Trump, the self-proclaimed women and families advocate and White House senior adviser, has remained publicly silent about the Department of Justice policy that is ripping apart migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border.
She has reportedly broached the subject with her father, President Donald Trump, in private and has tried to seek legislation to rectify the highly controversial policy. However, her social media accounts, which are filled with advocacy about issues affecting families, are noticeably bare regarding the separation of immigrant children from their parents.
Ivanka Trump met with the president Tuesday to discuss the images of migrant children that have been circulating widely the news and social media, according to CNN.
"She offered the president her support," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told CNN. "And, she said she would talk to any member of Congress to help find a legislative solution to the issue."
Ivanka Trump also called House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican, after the meeting. The first daughter developed relationships with the two GOP lawmakers during her efforts on the child tax credit.
President Trump told House Republicans that he had a conversation with his daughter about family separation during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday evening.
"He mentioned Ivanka talked to him about that," Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) told reporters afterwards. "His daughter had seen the images and said for a lot of reasons we should be dealing with this. And that is what this bill does."
Tuesday, Meghan McCain, co-host of "The View," questioned, "Where is Ivanka in all of this?"
"Because, she’s all for women and mothers, and she has a White House role and a job," McCain continued. "And, I’m sort of interested that her whole platform has been women and mothers, and she doesn’t seem to have anything to say about this?"
Mika Brzezinski, the co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," also called out the first daughter.
"This is a story about women and their vital role as mothers, and when you have babies being taken away from their mothers, you have to ask why the counselor to the president — who was brought in to help the president perhaps create good policies surrounding women, parental leave, domestic policies that are important to women in this country — you have to ask why Ivanka Trump is so tone deaf to post a picture about her special day yesterday with her daughter?" Brzezinski asked.
About 2,000 children were separated from their parents between April 19 and May 31, according to the Department of Homeland Security. And the photos have been horrifying, although the Trump administration has found new ways to defend them each day.
Uncharacteristically, first lady Melania Trump released a lukewarm statement about how heartbreaking it is for children to be separated from their parents, though her words seemed to mirror Trump's view that it is the Democratic Party's fault for not allocating funds to his border wall.
From Laura Bush to Ted Cruz, even hardline conservatives are condemning this immigration policy. Ivanka Trump, if you are a supporter of women and families, it is time to speak up. In fact, it is long overdue.
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