I know this one is going to sound really harsh, at first blush, but there’s something to it.

Speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly confirmed that there may come a time when parents attempting to cross the border into America illegally, with children in tow, will see their children taken away from them.

 “We have tremendous experience of dealing with unaccompanied minors,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “We turn them over to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job of putting them in foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States.”

When asked by Blitzer if that included separating children from their parents, Kelly responded:

He continued: “Yes I’m considering (that), in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network. I am considering exactly that. They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents. … It’s more important to me, Wolf, to try to keep people off of this awful network.”

There have been concerns for some time, regarding not only how dangerous it is to make it across the terrain before crossing into the border, but also, some children are being brought over by traffickers, suffering horrific abuse along the way.

Currently, when adults enter the country accompanied by children, they are generally released into the US and able to stay in the country, pending disposition of their cases, the official said.

The proposal would allow US immigration officials to separate children from the adults they came here with. The adults could be kept in detention, and the children could be moved elsewhere under protected status, possibly with family members already in the country or to state protective custody such as child protective services.

As a deterrent, it may prompt the parents to consider how willing they are to risk having their children taken away from them.

This isn’t a brainchild of the Trump administration.

The Obama administration had considered, but then scrapped the plans, feeling it was better to keep the family together.

Should the plan be implemented, you can expect mass howls of protest from liberals – none of whom will be willing to take these children into their own homes and care for them.