Anne Hathaway slammed President Donald Trump in a post on social media Tuesday where the actress shared an image of Central American migrants running from tear gas while at the U.S.- Mexico border wall and said, "My country gassed children."
The caption continued, "There are no words for my horror. To those who will immediately speak of 'doing it the right way,' who will 'blame the parents for putting the children in this position,' or say 'they were storming the wall,' and 'they were throwing rocks': the only human response to this monstrous use of force against LEGAL asylum seekers- against children- is condemnation, shame, and rage."
Hathaway concluded her thought with a question to Trump supporters and asked, "For those that still believe in voting for the man who recommended using lethal force on families fleeing violence and persecution: this is the policy you like?"
The star's post comes just two days after United States border agents shot rounds of tear gas at caravan migrants who threw rocks at law enforcement while trying to breach the border. The Trump administration has defended its response with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen saying in a statement that some migrants "attempted to breach legacy fence infrastructure along the border and sought to harm [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] personnel by throwing projectiles at them.”
And while Democrats lashed out at the Trump administration for the recent use of tear gas, data from the Department of Homeland Security shows federal agents used tear gas on the U.S.-Mexico border dozens of times during President Barack Obama's administration.
According to DHS data obtained by Fox News, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has used 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, commonly known as tear gas, 126 times since 2010.
During the Obama administration, tear gas was used on the border 26 times in 2012, 27 times in 2013, 15 times in 2014, eight times in 2015, and three times in 2016. That compares to 18 times in 2017 and 29 times in 2018 during the Trump administration.
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, highlighted the past use of tear gas during the Obama administration during Tuesday’s press briefing.
“Let's also not forget that this isn’t the first time non-lethal force like this has been used," Sanders said. "In fact, tear gas was used on average once a month during the Obama administration for very similar situations.”
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.