Steve Schmidt, senior advisor to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, speaks to the travelling press after McCain announced he was suspending his campaign September 24, 2008 at a hotel in New York City. McCain said he was suspending his campaign and is seeking a postponement of the presidential debate to deal with the financial crisis. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Former McCain campaign manager leaves GOP
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Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist who managed Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, said he is leaving the Republican Party in the wake of the Trump's administration's immigration policies that have led to the separation of families.
01:55 - Source: CNN
Family separations 16 videos
Steve Schmidt, senior advisor to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, speaks to the travelling press after McCain announced he was suspending his campaign September 24, 2008 at a hotel in New York City. McCain said he was suspending his campaign and is seeking a postponement of the presidential debate to deal with the financial crisis. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Former McCain campaign manager leaves GOP
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SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 16: An American flag flies along a section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence on July 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. The entire Southwest border saw 34,114 U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions in the month of June compared with 40,338 in May. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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U.S. Border Patrol agents take a father and son from Honduras into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas. The asylum seekers were then sent to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processing center for possible separation. U.S. border authorities are executing the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants' country of origin would no longer qualify them for political-asylum status. John Moore/Getty Images
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U.S. Border Patrol agents take a father and son from Honduras into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas. The asylum seekers were then sent to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processing center for possible separation. U.S. border authorities are executing the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants' country of origin would no longer qualify them for political-asylum status. John Moore/Getty Images
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Young migrant children, whose faces can not be shown, are seen at the US Customs and Border Protection Facility in Tucson, Arizona during a visit by US First Lady Melania Trump, June 28, 2018. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
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BROWNSVILLE, TX - JUNE 22: A crying Honduran woman and her child wait along the border bridge after being denied into the Texas city of Brownsville which has become dependent on the daily crossing into and out of Mexico on June 22, 2018 in Brownsville, Texas. Immigration has once again been put in the spotlight as Democrats and Republicans spar over the detention of children and families seeking asylum at the border. Before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that halts the practice of separating families who were seeking asylum, over 2,300 immigrant children had been separated from their parents in the zero-tolerance policy for border crossers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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BROWNSVILLE, TX - JUNE 22: A crying Honduran woman and her child wait along the border bridge after being denied into the Texas city of Brownsville which has become dependent on the daily crossing into and out of Mexico on June 22, 2018 in Brownsville, Texas. Immigration has once again been put in the spotlight as Democrats and Republicans spar over the detention of children and families seeking asylum at the border. Before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that halts the practice of separating families who were seeking asylum, over 2,300 immigrant children had been separated from their parents in the zero-tolerance policy for border crossers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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