Roskam: Trump administration must stop tearing apart migrant parents and kids

The White House needs to stop tearing apart migrant parents and children, suburban Republican and Democratic members of Congress agreed Monday.

But how the country gets to that point is a different matter. Pictures of anguished migrant families and weeping children roiled the country over the Father's Day weekend and caught the attention of lawmakers with their eyes on November's election.

As President Donald Trump defended new procedures at the southern border, Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton said the administration needs "to reverse course immediately."

Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano said he is "troubled by the situation at the border" and that he would support legislation to remedy it.

In Congress, the legislative picture is fluid with Trump set to meet Tuesday with Republicans. Two rival immigration plans are floating around in the House: Resolution 4760, considered to be conservative, and a second measure that's viewed as a compromise. A spokesman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said neither policy addresses the parent/child separation issue.

Meanwhile, the Democrats' Senate Bill 3036, which prohibits taking children away from their parents or legal guardians at ports of entry, could be introduced in the House Tuesday with slightly different language but the same intent.

Suburban members of Congress appeared to be sticking to party lines on any proposed laws.

Roskam hopes Republican legislation that includes increased border security and a compromise on students brought into the U.S. illegally when they were children will also keep migrant families together.

"There's an urgency to make sure this happens, either by the administration, and if doesn't happen by the administration, then it happens by a change in the law," Roskam said.

A Hultgren aide said the congressman would look closely at whatever legislation comes to the House floor but wants to see it first before deciding.

Supporters of Senate Bill 3036 so far include Democratic Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, Mike Quigley of Chicago, Jan Schakowsky of Evanston, and Brad Schneider of Deerfield.

• Daily Herald photographer Gilbert Boucher and news services contributed to this story.