Politics

Associated Press Fact Checks Dems For Blaming Trump For Children In Cages

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

William Davis Contributor
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The Associated Press fact checked Democratic presidential candidates who claimed Wednesday night that President Donald Trump’s administration was responsible for putting migrant children in cages.

The “kids in cages” talking point has become a staple of Democratic rhetoric, but the AP dinged Democrats during Wednesday night’s debate, pointing out that the practice Democrats are referring to actually began under former President Barack Obama. (RELATED: Trump Questions Obama Administration’s Response To Russian Interference)

“The ‘cages’ for young migrants at the border were built and used by President Barack Obama,” the AP wrote.

The AP specifically responded to Democratic Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet’s statement that “Kids belong in classrooms not cages,” although other Democratic candidates made similar statements.

Undocumented immigrants (R) are led by a U.S. Border Patrol agent to an area where they will board a bus and be transported to the Mexican border at the U.S. Border Patrol detention center in Nogales, Arizona, May 31, 2006. REUTERS/Jeff Topping

Undocumented immigrants (R) are led by a U.S. Border Patrol agent to an area where they will board a bus and be transported to the Mexican border at the U.S. Border Patrol detention center in Nogales, Arizona, May 31, 2006. REUTERS/Jeff Topping

The AP’s fact check also noted that the Trump administration has continued the practice. (RELATED: CNN’s John King: Problems At The Border Didn’t Start With Trump)

“The Trump administration has used them, too,” the AP wrote. “He is referring to chain-link enclosures inside border facilities where migrants have been temporarily housed, separated by sex and age.”

Earlier this month, House Democrats caused a stir when they tweeted a photo from 2014 that allegedly showed migrant children in cages at the border. House Democrats deleted the picture after Twitter users pointed out that the photo occurred during the Obama administration.

The Obama administration implemented some of the strictest immigration policies in U.S. history, and carried out a record number of deportations during the 2012 fiscal year.