Customs and Border Protection: Minor with Down syndrome not separated from mother under zero tolerance policy

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Wednesday that a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome was not separated from her family under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

The agency said in a statement obtained by CNN that the girl was separated from her mother and detained in a Texas facility because her mother is a material witness in a human smuggling case.

CBP added that the mother was “not prosecuted.”

{mosads}

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection separated a child with Down Syndrome from her mother as a result of a smuggling attempt on June 3,” the statement reads. 

“This however was not a result of zero tolerance as the mother is not being prosecuted, rather being held as a witness in the smuggling incident,” it continues.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says in statement that the minor who has Down Syndrome and was separated from her parent isn’t related to the zero tolerance policy. pic.twitter.com/wjFwe5Ygw4

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 20, 2018

Mexico’s foreign minister told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the Mexican government was working to release the girl from the Texas detainment center and reunite her with her father, a legal U.S. resident.

“We are working to release the girl, so she can reunite with her father,” Luis Videgaray told the Journal.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski sparked controversy Tuesday night when he dismissed the report during a Fox News segment by saying “womp womp.”

Asked on Fox News the next morning if he’d like to apologize, Lewandowski doubled down, asking, “An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated?”

The Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy, which has forced the separations of approximately 2,000 undocumented children from their families at the border, has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans.