A far-right darling in the White House was the one who convinced Trump the US should separate parents from their children at the border

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that executive, not legislative, action is key in ending the "barbaric" policy.

Current and former officials told the Times this discord over the policy is coursing through the administration, despite top officials like Sessions and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly taking hard stances.

Kelly, Trump's former head of Department of Homeland Security, told NPR last month the policy is one "no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long."

Sessions has since doubled down on the policy's groundings, quoting a Bible verse as defense in a speech last week.