AUSTIN -- As lawmakers gather at the border speaking out against President Donald Trump's new "zero tolerance" immigration policy, former First Lady Laura Bush is now blasting the policy.
The "zero tolerance" policy has led to the separation of almost 2,000 children from their parents at the border over the past six weeks.
Bush penned an op-ed, which appeared in the Washington Post on Father's Day. The former first lady used the holiday as a launching-off point to discuss the issue. She called the Trump administration's policy immoral and cruel.
"I live in a border state," she wrote. "I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart."
Lawmakers have traveled to South Texas where hundreds of children separated from their parents are being held to speak out against the zero-tolerance policy.
"It's completely unacceptable under any moral code or any religious tradition to injure children, inflict trauma on them, in order to send some political message to adults overseas," said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
"This is Trump, this is this administration, this is all of us. This is America, and so either that is who we are or this is who we are and this is our choice right now," said Representative Beto O' Rourke, (D) El Paso.
Bush compared the Trump Administration's policy to the internment of the Japanese during World War II. She also wrote that it seems people on either side of the aisle seem to agree that the immigration system is flawed. She said she believes that this zero tolerance policy is not the solution.
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But some said it's necessary.
"The morality isn't the law," said Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to Trump. "They are criminals when they come across ok illegally and that's why they are getting separated."
Current First Lady Melania Trump, also addressed the emotional issue. Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said she believes "we need to be a country that follows all laws," but also one "that governs with heart."
On Tuesday, President Trump is set to meet with Congress to discuss immigration, with two bills that will be heard on the house floor this week.