On Wednesday, after days of claiming that the policy of separating children from their families at the Mexican border was “the Democrats fault” — though, as Vox reported, that claim is totally false — and saying that he was powerless to stop it, Trump signed an executive order, as Inquisitr noted, supposedly ending the policy that the political data site FiveThirtyEight calls “really unpopular,” with polls showing average of just 25 percent support for ripping immigrant kids from their parents.
After he signed the order, which ends the separation policy for only the next 20 days, according to CBS News , Trump’s daughter Ivanka — who is also a top White House adviser — took to her Twitter account to “thank” her father for signing the order, though the younger Trump did not acknowledge the flaws with the order that commentators have pointed out.
For example, Slate legal correspondent Mark Joseph Stern noted that the executive order “fixed nothing.”
“(Trump) issued an executive order that would allow the indefinite detention of immigrant families together,” Stern observed. “This action may be preferable to the barbaric tactic of snatching children from their parents — but it is also illegal, and could lead Trump to return to tearing families apart.”
Under a 1997 court decision, Flores v. Johnson , the government may detain children for no more than 20 days, whether they are accompanied by their parents or not. Therefore, within 20 days, families detained together will either need to be released — something which Trump has given no indication will happen — or the children will be separated from their parents after all.
None of that mattered to Ivanka Trump, who praised her dad on Twitter.
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2018
But other Twitter users were not impressed with Ivanka’s public expression of gratitude to her father, blaming her for saying and doing nothing about the policy earlier, and pointing out the apparent meaningless of thanking the man who started the policy for at least seeming to end it.
Thanking Trump is like thanking the serial killer for leading you to where the bodies are buried.
— Desi (@DesiJed) June 20, 2018
You’re a fool if you actually believe that Ivanka Trump, who herself owns foreign sweatshops that abuse women and children, or Melania Trump, who plagiarizes speeches in support of children but never actually does anything, were disturbed about the separation of families.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) June 20, 2018
Dear @IvankaTrump ,
Your comments today are offensive, fake and soulless. You are, most certainly, @realDonaldTrump ‘s daughter. Shame on you and your family for the HORRORS that you have visited on helpless people who want nothing but a CHANCE at the American dream
Shame on you
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) June 20, 2018
Nice of you to thank the kidnapper for promising not to imprison any more children. Meantime thousands still imprisoned with no plans to reunite them with their parents, and politicians and press are still denied access to whatever horrors he is trying to hide in his baby prisons
— Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 20, 2018
Nonetheless, CNN reported on Wednesday that Ivanka Trump was allegedly working behind the scenes to end the family separation policy, at least according to a White House spokesperson.
“She offered the President her support and she said she would talk to any member of Congress to help find a legislative solution to the issue,” the spokesperson, Hogan Gidley, told the network.
When he signed the executive order that he said ended the policy, in an Oval Office ceremony earlier on Wednesday, Trump himself credited his daughter, whom he said “feels strongly” about stopping the family separation, according to The Hill .
“Ivanka feels very strongly. My wife feels very strongly about it. I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it,” Trump said.
Twitter wasn’t buying that claim either.
If we are to believe that @FLOTUS and @IvankaTrump had anything to do with Trump’s reversal on separation of families, let’s see them commit to one thing and one thing only: ensuring that these families are reunited. Put their money where their mouth is. #KeepFamiliesTogether
— ????? ???? ? ?? ? (@LegalWeed4SC) June 20, 2018
Wow, you literally have no soul. Your father is the one who tore those kids from their family with his Zero Tolerance policy, and you thank him for ending it?
You’re either too ignorant to see the stupidity, or you’re being blackmailed into supporting him.
— Yamato (@ominaeyu21) June 20, 2018
Hey @IvankaTrump must have missed all your tweets condemning your father for creating baby jails while he ripped thousands of children away from their parents. #complicit #conspirator https://t.co/FfcNIWwX6N
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) June 20, 2018
In fact, MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski said that she had information indicating that Ivanka Trump was not involved with changing the family separation policy, and only attempted to dive in once the executive order was a done deal.
@IvankaTrump , advisor to the President, ONLY spoke AFTER POTUS lost out and tried to take credit for the change. Details tomorrow on MJ.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 20, 2018
This tweet is insane. Your administration did this. You’re patting yourself on the back for simply not doing an evil thing anymore?
— Drewferrandini (@Drewferrandini) June 20, 2018
In an ABC News interview from April of 2017, Ivanka Trump described herself as a “force for good” who is striving to “make a positive impact.”
“I think there are multiple ways to have your voice heard,” she said in the 2017 interview. “Where I disagree with my father, he knows it, and I express myself with total candor.”