WARREN — A group of women who supported Donald Trump for president said they are proud he signed an order to keep immigrant families together when they are detained at the border, and haven’t been turned off by claims made by adult movie star Stormy Daniels.

“Trump is protecting the children by keeping them with their families, and I think that he should,” Mary Theis of Warren said. “They should keep them together, though they probably will have to leave together.”

Theis said she doesn’t wish on any child a forced separation from a parents, especially after the trauma of leaving a country behind.

“They live in countries that are really terrible,” Theis said. “I couldn’t imagine being separated from my mother after going through that journey and living through those conditions.”

But, Judie Shortreed said, although she supports the president’s move, she doesn’t think he was letting the children be treated poorly while they are in custody.

“Have your seen the buildings they have them in though? The beds are made, they are buying them new toys. There are nurses there. There are baby sitters there,” Shortreed said. “We as taxpayers have to take care of the children because their parent did something illegal.”

Foreign aid to countries where many immigrants originate from should be monitored by American employees in the country to ensure it is being spent on programs that will actually improve the living standards of the people there, Theis said.

Coverage of the situation at the border is convoluted, Shortreed said.

“We feed them and give them a place to sleep, probably the best night of sleep they’ve ever had,” Shortreed said. “The (national) media gets the facts wrong and says the kids are sleeping in cages and they aren’t.”

Theis said she is glad Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to do DNA testing at the border to ensure adults and children traveling together are related and aren’t connected to human trafficking.

Another scandal that grabbed headlines this year hasn’t phased the group of Trumbull County conservatives. Accusations by Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels in adult films, that she and Trump had an extramarital affair are being blown out of proportion, they agreed.

“We knew he was a playboy from the start,” Theis said.

“He wasn’t president at the time,” said Carol Griffths.

Shortreed said she believes the accusations are attacks orchestrated by the Democratic Party and the national media.

Cathy Lukasko of Brookfield said she is happy with the amount of women Trump has selected to serve under him — like United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos.

The women said they believe the economy is improving under Trump. Shortreed said rising interests rates are good for pensions. And they all said his tough-negotiator position on tariffs makes them proud to have him fighting for the country.

rfox@tribtoday.com