Heartbreaking Audio Leaked From Immigrant Child Separation: 'Papa! Papa!'

The leaked audio seems to be from the moment children were taken from their parents at the southern border.

Heartbreaking audio believed to have come from the southern border seems to capture the moment immigrant children are separated from their parents as part of an increasingly criticized Trump administration policy.

"Papa! Papa!" a weeping child cries out in the audio, which was leaked to ProPublica Monday. 

The administration has not commented on the audio, but it has become yet another source of outrage for those opposed to the so-called "zero tolerance" policy toward undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have rushed to condemn the practice, which has reportedly led to children being placed in cages en masse in makeshift ICE facilities

Even conservatives with typically more hardline stances on immigration have opposed the practice, including both senators from Texas, Republicans Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. 

"All Americans are rightly horrified by the images we are seeing on the news, children in tears pulled away from their mothers and fathers," Cruz, who will introduce legislation banning the separations, wrote in a release. "This must stop. Now. We can end this crisis by passing the legislation I am introducing this week."

Every living former first lady has also spoken out on the practice, including Laura Bush.

"I live in a border state," she wrote on Twitter and as part of an op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday. "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."

Faith leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere have condemned the practice, as well. Among them is Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

"Basically the administration has, in deciding to separate children from their parents, to weaponize children, using them as a leverage against the parents applying for their asylum applications," Wenski told NPR.

Franklin Graham, the son of "America's Pastor" Billy Graham and a friend of President Trump, has also come out against child separation.

"It's disgraceful," Graham said. "It's terrible to see families ripped apart and I don't support that one bit."

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