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Dana Milbank: Trump loves kids. So his border guards are firing tear gas at them.

“I love babies. I hear that baby cry, I like it. What a baby. What a beautiful baby. Don’t worry. Don’t worry.”

Americans are shocked by images from Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday showing U.S. agents firing tear gas at migrant families, forcing barefoot children in diapers to disperse in pain and terror.

But the firing of tear gas at toddlers, properly understood, is an act of mercy by the Trump administration. The White House last week authorized the U.S. military to use “lethal force” against the migrants. Trump himself had suggested troops, if threatened, should feel free to shoot them.