O’Rourke: It’s ‘clear’ Trump won’t meet family reunification deadline

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) is predicting that the Trump administration will not meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite migrant families separated at the southern border.

“It is clear to me that the administration is not going to make its deadline,” O’Rourke, who is the Democratic nominee challenging Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this fall, said on ABC’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast. 

“This country was in no way prepared for the industrial scale of family separation.”

O’Rourke added that “this is one of the most inhumane, cruel things I’ve ever seen this country do and it was the decision of the president.” 

{mosads}O’Rourke’s comments come just a day before a deadline for the Department of Homeland Security to reunify over 2,000 migrant families who were separated as part of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. 

The Trump administration told a court on Monday that 1,187 of the 2,551 children ages 5 and older who were forcibly separated from their parents had been reunited with them or “appropriately discharged.” The administration also said that 58 of the 103 children under the age of 5 had been reunited. 

O’Rourke also said on the podcast that he believes abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would do nothing to resolve the issues at the border. His statement runs counter to many Democratic lawmakers’ calls to abolish ICE. 

O’Rourke, who has previously called for Trump’s impeachment, also said that he would vote to impeach the president if such a measure reached the House floor. 

“Impeachment is an indication that there is something there. I would liken it to an indictment,” he said. “A conviction is … something that members of the Senate would have to consider after having all of the facts.”

O’Rourke remains an underdog in his quest to unseat Cruz. The Cook Political Report currently rates the Senate race as “likely Republican.”