WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he's not comfortable with a Trump administration policy that separates children and parents at the southern border, as congressional Republicans face increasing pressure to address concerns about vulnerable families being torn apart.
"We don't want kids to be separated from their parents," Ryan said.
Ryan and other GOP lawmakers said they are seeking to resolve the problem in a compromise immigration bill House Republicans are racing to finish. That bill is set to receive a vote next week.
Ryan claimed Thursday that the family-separation policy is being dictated by a court ruling that prevents children who enter the country illegally from being held in custody for long periods.
However, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi pushed back on that assessment, saying President Donald Trump could "stop the practice on a dime."
She called the Trump administration's separation policy "barbaric," adding: "It has to stop."
The family separations are occurring as a result of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy for those entering the country illegally. Under the directive, families crossing the border are routinely referred for criminal prosecution. Previously, families were often sent to civil deportation proceedings, which allow children to remain with their parents.
During the criminal proceedings, the children are usually released to other family members or foster care.
"It's a moral policy to follow and enforce the law," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in defending the administration's approach.
The administration's policy has become a political flashpoint at a time when House Republican leaders are trying to craft compromise legislation on immigration. The bill aims to address thorny issues that have bedeviled Congress for years.
Some Republicans have begun distancing themselves from the Trump policy as news stories have highlighted that families are being separated as they enter the country illegally from Mexico. Many of those families are seeking asylum in the U.S.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., tweeted Thursday that he told a constituent, "I am asking the White House to keep families together as much as we can."
Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., said he's "heartbroken" by the separations and is working to find a solution to keep families together. His comments were in response to a letter from local officials urging him to demand that the Department of Homeland Security end the practice.
"As a father to two young girls it is unimaginable what these parents are suffering," Yoder said.
With horror stories of babies and young children being taken from their mothers receiving heavy news coverage, the White House sought to shift the narrative by providing some media groups with a tour of a former Wal-Mart near the border in Texas that houses several hundred immigrant children.
The tour was tightly controlled and the Health and Human Services Department did not allow any photographs or video or interviews, instead releasing a government-produced video of the shelter.
The Associated Press declined to participate in the tour, which came after a Democratic senator tried to enter a federal facility in Texas where immigrant children are being held. Police were called and Sen. Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, was told to leave.
Merkley said he was able to enter another facility used for processing migrants and run by the Department of Homeland Security. He said he saw men, women and children crowded in cages.
"It reminds me a little bit of a dog kennel, constructed of cyclone fencing," Merkley told the AP.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also weighed in, saying U.S. officials have discretion to keep families intact. "Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops group.
Historically, immigrants without serious criminal records have been released from custody while they pursued asylum or refugee status. The Trump administration has moved to detain more people, including asylum seekers.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions insists the policy of separating families is necessary to deter illegal border-crossings. Authorities said the decision to send people to prisons is a temporary one forced by a shortage of beds.
Lawmakers are considering ways to prevent family separations, although it's unclear what approach the emerging compromise legislation in the House will take.