Former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both denounced the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that is contributing to the high number of children being separated from their families by the US government once they illegally cross the border. "Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together?" Trump's Democratic predecessor wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday marking World Refugee Day. Obama argued that "to find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant -- to be big enough and wise enough to uphold our laws and honor our values at the same time -- is part of what makes us American."