Hillary Clinton: Separating families at border a 'moral crisis'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that has separated children from their parents at the southern U.S. border "is a moral and humanitarian crisis."

Clinton was speaking Monday at an awards lunch for the Women's Forum of New York.

The 2016 Democratic presidential contender said every person with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.

Republican President Donald Trump has defended the harsh immigration policy, which has taken nearly 2,000 immigrant children away from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The separation policy has come under increasingly strong criticism, with accounts of children being kept in cages and parents not knowing where their children are.

Clinton said she had warned during the campaign about the potential for this type of situation.