Report: Trump's Immigration Policy Is Really About Votes

In the blink of an eye, the uproar over immigration has become a major midterm election issue.

And that's precisely the way President Trump wants it, according to Fox News' Media Watcher Howard Kurtz.

With some prominent Republicans and conservative media outlets slamming the president's policy of separating migrant families at the border, you might have thought the White House would be looking to quickly defuse the controversy.

That's not happening, writes Kurtz.

The GOP plan had been to run on tax cuts and a booming economy. But the president has apparently decided that he needs to motivate his base voters to show up in what is shaping up as a tough election.

As Corey Lewandowski, who works for Mike Pence's PAC, told The New York Times: "People don't turn out to say thank you. If you want to get people motivated, you've got to give them a reason to vote. Saying 'build the wall and stop illegals from coming in and killing American citizens' gives them an important issue.'

But just as obviously, the child separation issue makes the overall issue risky this time around, beyond the impact on the Hispanic vote. According to Kurtz, just imagine the 30-second ads, complete with audio now that ProPublica has put out the sounds of crying children being taken from their parents.

That's not likely to play well with suburban moms. The press is aflame over this issue, which is drawing almost wall-to-wall coverage on cable news.

And many on the right are offering harsh criticism. Conservative Salem Media radio host Hugh Hewitt, a Trump loyalist, said that family separation could become "the Republicans' new Katrina."

But other conservatives, including Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, are backing the president’s “zero tolerance” approach and saying the media aren’t devoting enough attention to crime and other problems created by some illegal immigrants.

Trump says he hates migrant kids being separated from parents but has no choice. (The media point out that's not true, but it's also true that conditions in the much-criticized warehousing facilities date to the Obama administration.)