Washington: Attacking the Trump administration for its policy on illegal immigrants wherein children are separated from their parents and kept in detention facilities, Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Indian-origin Kamala Harris, said that children should not be treated as criminals and called for a humane immigration programme. The views were expressed during a CNN Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday.

As many as 10 Democratic presidential hopefuls participated in the programme. These children have not committed crimes... and should not be treated like criminals, Harris said. She was responding to a question on her earlier statement in which she indicated that she does not think it should be a criminal offense punishable by jail to cross the US border illegally. Harris said that she went to a private detention centre in Florida that currently houses 2,700 children. I walked down the road, I climbed a ladder, and I looked over the fence, and I'm going to tell you what I saw. I saw children lined up single file based on gender being walked into barracks. "The policies of this administration have been facilitated by laws on the books that allow them to be incarcerated as though they have committed crimes, Harris said. Speaking on the issue, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said, our hearts break when we see those children at these detention facilities who have been separated from their parents, when we see human beings crowded into cages in abhorrent, inhumane conditions.