Ivanka Trump disagrees with Donald Trump on family separation, treatment of media

White House Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump speaks alongside US President Donald Trump at US Steel's Granite City Works steel mill in Granite City, Illinois, on July 26, 2018. (Photo: AFP)


Ivanka Trump, the daughter of and close adviser to President Donald Trump, on Thursday disagreed with some of the most controversial decisions of her father, including family separation for illegal migrants and his regular attacks on the media, which he calls the “enemy of the people”.

“I am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children,” Ivanka Trump said in an interview with C-SPAN when asked about the matter, Efe reported.

Ivanka said that the “zero tolerance” policy adopted by the US government in April, which includes separating parents and children who were apprehended after entering the US illegally over the US-Mexican border, has brought the administration to a “low point”.

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Nevertheless, the president’s oldest child acknowledged that the issue of immigration is a “complex” matter and defended the importance of migrant parents respecting the prevailing laws for the good of their children.

She said that her mother, Ivana Trump, grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and came to this country legally, adding that people need to be very careful not to foster or encourage behavior that puts young children in danger or exposes them to people trafficking.

Ivanka also said she was against the treatment her father – and part of the government – has given to many media outlets, which he frequently refers to as disseminating “fake news” and has dubbed the “enemy of the people.”

“I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate,” Trump told the hosts. “So I’ve … had some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripe, especially when they sort of feel targeted.”

“These are not easy issues. These are incredibly difficult issues,” she said. “I experience them in a very emotional way.”