(Image source from: AP News)

Atlanta's Democratic mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the city won't take any new immigration detainees until she's definite the separations have stopped and called the involuntary separation of migrant families at the country's Southern border "despicable."

The city has long had an understanding to house United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in the city jail. An executive order was signed an on Wednesday by Bottoms declaring the jailhouse won't take any more detainees until she gets certainty from President Donald Trump's administration that the "zero tolerance" policy has been revoked and the separations have ended.

"I, like many others, have been horrified watching the impact of President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy on children and families," Bottoms said in a news release. The mayor added in the order that she "will not allow the City of Atlanta to risk being complicit in separating families as a result of this policy."

The separated children's photographs and audio recordings crying for their parents held in cages at border facilities have dominated the news in recent days. They have aggravated a national uproar, sparking questions of morality.

"On behalf of the people of Atlanta, I am calling upon the Trump Administration and Congress to enact humane and comprehensive measures that address our broken immigration system," Bottoms said in the release.

The "zero tolerance" policy initiated by Trump administration calls for all illegal border crossings to be cited for legal action, that moves adults to the detention of the U.S. Marshals Service and directs many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. However, Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to keep families together, but he said the "zero tolerance" policy will proceed.

Atlanta has long had an agreement with the U.S. Marshal's Service to house adult Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in the city jail. Bottoms said that may seem contrary to her personal stance, but she said the agreement keeps some immigration detainees from being sent to other privately run facilities in the state, which she called 'substandard'.

By Sowmya Sangam