Dems blast Trump over tweet blaming Dems for death of migrant children

Democrats reacted with outrage Saturday after President Trump blamed them for the deaths of two migrant children who were in the custody of Customs and Border Protection officers.

Members of the incoming House majority on Saturday vowed investigations into the deaths of 8-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonzo and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin in U.S. custody after the president wrote on Twitter that the two children’s deaths were “strictly the fault of the Democrats” for not funding his plans to build a wall along the border.

“Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try,” Trump wrote Saturday.{mosads}

“The two children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end,” he added.

Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try! The two…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

…children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

California Rep. Ted Lieu (D), a frequent critic of the president on social media, tweeted in response that Democrats would begin hearings in January on the issue upon taking the House.

“Is this when @realDonaldTrump became our President?” Lieu questioned, referring to a frequent line of discussion about the president from political pundits.

“Even #MAGA folks would concede that @POTUS is not a doctor. He’s just making stuff up again,” the lawmaker continued. “In January the House of Representatives will hold hearings with witnesses under oath and find out what happened.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, went further on MSNBC, where he accused Trump of lacking “any capacity for human empathy.”

“The first reaction to the news of a death of a child in our custody ought to be empathy for the family and, frankly, enormous distress that that happened at all. It’s now the second such death,” Connolly said Saturday.

“And instead, our president — who apparently lacks any capacity for human empathy — decides to use the death of two children as a political tool, something he can hit his opponents with. I think it’s really yet another new low in a president filled with new lows,” he added.

Rep.-elect Harley Rouda (D-Calif.) added on Twitter that the president was using the children as “political pawns” in his ongoing battle with Congress on immigration reform.

“We need a President who doesn’t view everything through a partisan lens. Felipe and Jakelin were human children @realDonaldTrump – not political pawns,” Rouda tweeted.

We need a President who doesn’t view everything through a partisan lens. Felipe and Jakelin were human children @realDonaldTrump – not political pawns. https://t.co/nfqhDluc5E

— Harley Rouda (@HarleyRouda) December 29, 2018

The president has battled Congress for weeks over funding for his planned border wall, which last week led to a partial shutdown of the federal government. The shutdown dragged into its eighth day on Saturday, with no end in sight and most indications pointing to it lasting into January.

Democrats take the House majority on Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in.