HARRISBURG — Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta is backing President Donald Trump through every twist and turn of the immigration debate as he and the man he is trying to unseat, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, split Monday on what to do instead of separating children from detained migrant parents.

Barletta and Casey both made appearances in Pennsylvania on Monday as the immigration debate roils Congress and could spur more votes this week.

If broader immigration legislation fails again, Barletta said, he would support a narrower bill potentially forthcoming from House GOP leaders to address a federal court settlement that forbids the government from keeping children and families in custody beyond 20 days. It could be similar to a bill proposed by Republican senators would require the Homeland Security Department to keep immigrant families together during legal proceedings.

“So let’s fix the parts that we can and have compassion for the children and families; nobody wants to see them separated,” Barletta told reporters after speaking at the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon.

The four-term Barletta has backed Trump faithfully on the immigration debate, defending the policy of separating children from detained migrant parents as a deterrent, while also saying he doesn’t want to see families separated.

Casey said separating children from their families is a policy “from the pit of hell” and criticized the practice of detaining families indefinitely — even if together — as able to inflict psychological damage on children.

Instead, monitoring systems could prove effective, Casey said.

A federal pilot program using monitoring strategies that was in effect before the Trump administration ended it showed more than 90 percent of families came back for hearings, Casey said.