WASHINGTON (CBS13) - Conversations escalated inside the White House briefing Thursday when reporters grilled Press Secretary Sarah Sanders about the administration's policy on separating families at the border.

Sanders maintains it is the law to separate young children from their immigrant parents.

The exchange started when she was asked about Attorney General Jeff Sessions citing the Bible in his defense of his border policy. He said, "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful."

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During the briefing she said, "it is very biblical to enforce the law that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible." When pressed on where it said that in the Bible, Sanders responded, "that's not what I said and I know that's hard for you to understand, even short sentences I guess, please don't take my words out of context."

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Sanders, who has announced she will leave The White House later this year, then blamed Democrats for the situation saying, "The separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that Democrats refuse to close and these laws are the same that have been on the books for over a decade and the President is simply enforcing them."

When another reporter asked Sanders, as a parent, if she had any empathy for what the families are going through she refused to answer.