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Ex-Trump campaign manager Lewandowski mocks migrant girl with Down syndrome

Lewandowski recently joined Vice President Mike Pence's political action committee.
Credit: RYAN MCBRIDE/AFP/Getty Images
Former Donald Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski attends a rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, October 28, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski cynically dismissed concerns about reports that a migrant girl with Down syndrome had been separated from her mother at the southwest U.S. border as a result of the White House's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy.

"Womp, womp," Lewandowski said to fellow panelist Zac Petkanas during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night after Petkanas, a Democratic strategist, said he had read about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome "who was taken from her mother and put in a cage."

"Did you say 'womp, womp' to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome being separated from her mother?" a shocked Petkanas asked. "How dare you."

"What I said is you can pick anything you want to, but the bottom line is very clear: when you cross the border illegally you have given up the rights of that country," Lewandowski said. "When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from your family because that's how this country works."

After the show, Petkansas said in a tweet that exchange with Lewandowski "was truly a surreal moment."

"This is so horrible, even by Lewandowski standards," Meghan McCain said in a tweet about the incident.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that in "one particular heartbreaking case" at the border, a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome was separated from her mother and brother. The girl was center to a facility in McAllen, Texas, while her mother was sent to a detention center in Brownsville, according to Videgaray.

"We are working to release the girl, so she can reunite with her father," Videgaray said, adding that the girl's father is a legal U.S. resident.

Lewandowski, who served as Trump's campaign manager for a year and a half, recently joined Vice President Mike Pence's political action committee.

Last summer, Lewandowski was fired from his job as a political commentator for One America News Network, according to The Daily Beast. which reported that Lewandowski was ousted by the conservative network because of his frequent appearances with the network's competitors, including Fox News.

Lewandowski, who was fired from the Trump campaign in the aftermath of an alleged physical altercation with a reporter joined OANN in January. Before that, he had been a commentator on CNN. He left CNN in November, after Donald Trump won the presidential election.

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