A number of House representatives visited the border this weekend, including Coloradans Democrat Diana DeGette and Republican Mike Coffman.
Both have been critical of the Trump administration's previous policy of separating families detained at the border.
Coffman wants Trump to fire the people responsible for what he calls "a human rights mess," including the president's senior policy advisor Stephen Miller. DeGette has called on the president to do more than just sign an executive disorder to stop the separation of families.
On Sunday, public demand continued for migrant families separated at the border to be reunited. Protesters gathered again in Texas where migrant children are being held. The administration said it knows where all children in custody are and that it's working to reunite them.
President Donald Trump stood firm against criticism on Twitter, saying those who invade the U.S. should be sent back home without a court hearing.
The Department of Homeland Security has said a parent must request that their child is deported with them if they want to be reunited. It remains unclear how long that process will take.
DeGette returned from the border Sunday morning and compared the intake area at the border to a prison. She said she spoke with some of those being detained and many of them told her they had no idea where their children were or how they might reunite with them.
She said the border is in a state of confusion with detainees not knowing what's going to happen to them.
"When you see little children being held in a chain-linked cell with the looks terror on their face, you really think, 'is this the best America can do for these children?'" she said.
DeGette said she thought officers at the border were working to give migrants medical help. Many of those crossing the border are sick or have other physical ailments.
Coffman also returned from the border on Sunday, calling his visit a "fact-finding mission."
He said he would be fine with a "zero-tolerance" policy when it came to migrants crossing illegally, but wasn't on board with the policy of separating families during prosecution.
"The administration needed to go forward with a legislative change to fix that and they didn't - they never went before Congress for that change," he said. "And so what happened is they went forward with a policy that they shouldn't have gone forward with - they easily could have sought the authority to keep families together but did not."
He said he was drawn to the border because of the images of the children being torn away from their parents. He echoed DeGette's sentiment that he didn't believe the policy was "who we are as Americans."
He said he hoped to find out how the children would get reunited with their parents. Some are, he continued, but there are so many fragmented agencies working this that no one is in charge. He called on the president to name a single leader to take command of the border crossings issue.
In Denver, hundreds of miles from the U.S. border with Mexico, protestors gathered outside Capitol and marched down the 16th Street Mall before going back up 17th Street. They held various signs railing against the current administration and its treatment of people at the border.
DeGette made an appearance at the rally.
Protests over the current border crisis were held in various cities around the country over the weekend, including cities in California, Texas, Florida, and others.
9NEWS anchor and reporter Ryan Haarer sat down with Coffman on Sunday to talk border and policy. See the full interview below:
