White House adviser, and U.S. President Donald Trump‘s daughter, Ivanka Trump, spoke out on the administration’s highly criticized policy that separated migrant families crossing into the country.
Trump spoke at an event hosted by Axios Newsmakers on Thursday morning, saying the separation of parents from children was a “low point” in her time at the White House.
READ MORE: Detaining immigrant kids is now a billion-dollar industry in the U.S.
“That was a low point for me,” she said.
“I feel very strongly about that. I am very vehemently against family separation.”
She went on to say that immigration is an “incredibly complex topic,” using her mother as an example.
WATCH: Immigrant child from Honduras reunited with father in Michigan
“I am the daughter of an immigrant. My mother grew up in communist Czech Republic, but we are a country of laws,” she said.
“These are not easy issues,” Trump said, adding irregular migration poses several safety risks for children.
Trump was heavily criticized for her silence during the Trump administration’s practice of separating families.
READ MORE: Ivanka Trump under fire for ‘tone-deaf’ photo hugging her son
The fury over family separation grew to a high when Trump, who is a mother herself, posted a photo hugging her son on social media.
The timing of her post prompted social media users to accuse her of being “tone deaf” to the heartache faced by migrant families.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Chelsea Peretti called Trump’s photo “hurtful timing” in a tweet.
Trump faced new criticism following Thursday’s remarks, with social media users pointing out that many parents and children remain separated even though the “zero-tolerance” policy was reversed in June.
“You can’t say family separation *was* a low point, because it IS STILL HAPPENING,” one Twitter user wrote.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reacted to Trump’s remarks from Thursday hours later, saying that nobody likes the idea of separating families.
“We also don’t like the idea of open borders,” she added.
“We don’t like the idea of allowing people into our country if we don’t know who they are, where they are going and why they’re coming. The president wants to secure our borders, which is why he has asked Congress to fix the law.”
READ MORE: Here’s how Canada deals with migrant parents, children and detention
At the event, the president’s daughter also commented on the ongoing controversy surrounding his treatment of media, and comments that describe journalists as “the enemy of the people.”
When asked if she agrees with that statement, she replied: “No, I do not.”
WATCH: CNN reporter Jim Acosta heckled at Trump rally
Trump went on to chastise the media for “not being fully accurate.”
“I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate, so I have some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripe, especially when they sort of feel targeted, but, no, I do not consider the media the enemy of the people,” she said.
President Trump responded to his daughter’s statement on the media in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
“They asked my daughter Ivanka whether or not the media is the enemy of the people. She correctly said no,” he wrote. “It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!”
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