Ivanka Trump donated $50,000 to church helping immigrant children at US border, evangelical leader says
Presidential daughter Ivanka Trump has reportedly donated $50,000 to a church in Texas after learning about its campaign to provide aid to immigrant children at the US border.
An evangelical leader told CBN News that Ivanka Trump decided to donate money to Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, after reading a tweet from its lead pastor, Jack Graham.
'We @Prestonwood are currently working to provide solutions to care for children during this terrible immigration crisis. Our Espanol ministry let by Gilberto Corredera is stepping up to the challenge to express the love of Jesus. We are broken-hearted and determined to act,' Graham wrote in a tweet on June 19.
Graham, who confirmed the donation to CBN News, said in a statement that he would talk about Ivanka Trump's contribution at a church service this coming weekend.
The anonymous source claimed that Ivanka Trump contacted Graham before President Donald Trump issued an executive order that ended the practice of separating immigrant families at the border.
The president announced the order after receiving widespread criticism for the 'zero tolerance' immigration policy that has separated at least 2,000 children from their parents.
Donald Trump had maintained that the zero tolerance policy will continue, but his new executive order will keep families together.
'I think the word "compassion" comes into it, but it's still equally as tough, if not tougher,' the President said, according to The Independent.
On Thursday, Ivanka Trump posted a tweet applauding her father's decision to end the practice of separating immigrant families.
'Now that an EO has been signed ending family separation at the border, it is time to focus on swiftly and safely reuniting the families that have been separated,' Ivanka Trump wrote.
Time Magazine reported that 2,300 immigrant children who were taken from their parents since early May are still under the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The children are currently staying in Customs and Border Protection facilities and Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters across the US while their parents face charges for crossing the border.
On Thursday, the president ordered government agencies to keep families together at the border and work to reunite families that were separated during previous arrests.
Under the new executive order, the children will be kept in detention centers with their parents as they await proceedings on their charges.
Donald Trump has instructed the secretary of defense to build more facilities for housing immigrant families facing prosecution if necessary.