Hillary Clinton attacks Trump over migrant child detentions but husband Bill’s record mirrors trend

WASHINGTON, DC: Former Secretary of State and former president’s wife, Hillary Clinton’s take on the strict detention and deportation practises of the Trump administration has shed light on Bill Clinton’s tenure and his approach.

Hillary lashed out at the Trump administration over ICE practices involving the detention of child migrants, saying it is causing ‘terrible damage’, but her husband’s tenure wasn’t any better. Data from Bill Clinton’s time in office show a similar trend.

Hillary Clinton says 'terrible damage is being done' to children

Attaching data showing that the Trump administration has detained 6200 children so far, with an average per day record of 226 children, Hillary in an X post said, "Terrible damage to children is being done in our name.”

The data shared by Hillary, outlining the number of children detained in Trump’s second tenure, came from a non-profit news outlet, The Marshall Project, that reports on the criminal justice system.

However, Hillary’s comment draws a contradiction with her husband Bill Clinton’s record, discrediting her attack.

The federal data from the 1990s showed hundreds of juveniles in custody on an average day under former President Clinton, as immigration enforcement was stricter.

Bill Clinton detained 400-500 children per day

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report by the Department of Justice, published in 2001, shows that 4,136 unaccompanied illegal juveniles were detained in fiscal year 2000 for longer than 72 hours.

The report further stated that nearly 400 to 500 juveniles were being detained per day on average in the same year. Bill Clinton signed two laws in 1996 to speed up the detention and removal of illegal migrants, expanding immigration enforcement.

The two laws were the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. 

DHS responds to Hillary Clinton's post

Reacting to Hillary’s post, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, April 15, "ICE does not target children or separate families."

They added, "Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administrations’ immigration enforcement."

Clinton’s X post came after her appearance at the Munich Security Conference in February, when she said there’s a "legitimate reason" to discuss the immigration policies and said that it “went too far.”