WATCH: Trump pushes back against criticism of family separation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally.

Trump on Friday hit back against the storm of criticism that has enveloped the White House over the forced separation of children from their migrant parents after illegal border crossings.

The president blasted media coverage of the images of children separated from their parents at the southern border.

READ MORE: What’s in Trump’s executive order on family separation?

Trump said “you hear the other side, you never hear this side.”

The president focused on families whose loved ones have been killed, not temporarily separated, saying “the word you have to think about is ‘permanently.'”

His appearance came hours after he suggested that some of the current tales of separation were “phony stories.”