Kevin Costner on undocumented children being separated from parents at border: 'I'm not recognizing America'

Costner says: "We've been about more, we can be about more."

June 19, 2018, 3:18 PM

Amid growing outrage over the separation of undocumented children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Costner is speaking out.

"I'm not recognizing America right now," Costner said of the crisis. "I don't recognize any individual statements. I feel people going with the flow ... we're in a really weird spot."

Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen said these children are "very well taken care of" and that the U.S. Border Patrol operates "in some of the highest standards in the country."

Heart-wrenching images of children being separated or held in wire enclosures, sleeping under foil sheets at detention centers are going viral — along with audio of a child weeping for his "papa."

"Separating people with no plan, when those children can't even speak English — Can you imagine the terror?" Costner asks.

Calls to keep these families together while the parents are prosecuted for illegally crossing into the U.S. are growing from both sides of the aisle, including comments from Melania Trump and Laura Bush.

PHOTO: Kevin Costner appears on ABC's 'The View', June 19, 2018.
Kevin Costner appears on ABC's 'The View', June 19, 2018.
Candice Elle Frank/ABC

"It takes a high level of compassion, empathy and intelligence to work our way out of this," Costner said.

Trump is scheduled to meet with House Republicans on Capitol Hill this afternoon to discuss two immigration bills. Neither bill specifically deals with children separated from their parents.

Nielsen insisted yesterday that the "children are not being used as a pawn... We are trying to protect the children."

PHOTO: Kevin Costner appears on ABC's 'The View', June 19, 2018.
Kevin Costner appears on ABC's 'The View', June 19, 2018.
Candice Elle Frank/ABC

"We have to do better," Costner added. "We've been about more, we can be about more and right now we're acting really small."

Costner has portrayed a myriad of American icons on screen, including Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables," Ray Kinsella in "Field of Dreams," and Lt. John J. Dunbar in "Dances with Wolves."

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