Garland rips Trump's family separation policy: "I can't imagine anything worse"

Judge Merrick Garland, President Biden's nominee for attorney general, decried the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy at his confirmation hearing Monday, calling it "shameful" and agreeing to cooperate with future investigations.

Why it matters: The policy — which "came at the expense" of weighing the impact on families, according to a Justice Department watchdog report — resulted in over 500 parents still separated from their children as of October 2020. Biden has launched a task force on reuniting families as part of a campaign pledge.

What they're saying: "I think that the policy was shameful. I can't imagine anything worse than tearing parents from their children, and we will provide all the cooperation that we possibly can," Garland told Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

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