Page 694 - Administrations News Today

Meant to be a deterrent. its just trying to enforce a law. >> why dont we have congress change the laws? congress could fix this tomorrow. we have a long-existing policy. multiple administrations have followed that outline when we may take action to protect children. >> are you intending to send a message? >> i find that offensive. no. because why would i ever create a policy that purposely does that? >> are you considering this a deterrent? >> i see the fact that no one was being prosecuted for...

Figure out what to say. the president has sort of directed the administration to blame democrats. so down the line what you see is the administration trying to follow through with that, even as theyre confronted with the actual facts, which is to say that the laws they talk about changing have been in place for a long time. what has changed is a decision by the administration to implement what jeff sessions admits is a zero tolerance policy on the people that are crossing the border illegally wi...

Multiple administrations have followed, that outline when we may take action to protect children. we will separate those who claim to be a parent and child if we cannot determine a familiar or custodial relationship exists. for example, if there is no documentation to confirm the claimed relationship between an adult and a child, we do so if the parent is a national security public or safety risk, including when there are criminal charges at issue and it may not be appropriate to maintain the fa...

Those are traffickers, those are smugglers and that is ms-13 and criminals and abusers. >> women have -- >> so all im trying to say is the closing of the loophole will enable us to detain families together throughout the proceeding as theyve done in previous administrations. >> madam secretary, could you say, are the children being used as pawns against a border wall, yes or no? can you say yes or no to that. >> the children are not being used as a pawn and were trying to protect the children wh...

Administrations did not separate families at the border so that under mines the case that they are simply enforcing existing law. >> lindsey graham said the president could end this with a phone call. patrick healy, explain how the president is using this as a bargaining chip. republicans control the senate and the house. why does the president need to use this as a way to force democrats to pay for his wall? why cant republicans just give him his wall? lets set aside for a moment the brutality ...

Administrations toy with this idea and call it too inhumane, too heartless. you look at laura bush. how many times did we hear from her when she was the first lady of the united states when it came to policy issues? this is a matter that crosses party lines and needs to be addressed immediately. this is not america. >> ann, the former new jersey attorney general, our legal analyst right now. you heard the secretary of homeland security say their hands are tied. what does the law actually say? >>...

And human services when they get to hhs. >> is that the image of country you want out there, the children -- >> the -- the image i want is a secure border and humanitarian ideals and congress needs to fix it. >> i want to give you a chance to respond to laura bushs op ed and supporting a application of law and current first lady melania trump said we should be a nation of laws and do so with heart. do you have anything you want to tell them, do you believe they are misunderstanding the situation...

Families together is a newer issue. but it is certainly one that has got to be considered -- >> congressman, were going to have to leave it there. sorry, we see the dhs secretary commenting on this right now in new orleans. >> lets be honest. there are some who would like us to look the other way when dealing with families at the border and not enforce the law passed by congress. including unfortunately some members of congress, past administrations may have done so, but we will not. we do not h...

This is already a bill that is in print. it is coming up for a vote this week. so we have the ability to fix it this week. >> as a practical matter, we are in, of course, a midterm ye what a we four or five months away from the midterm elections, a lot of difficult races for republnd democrats here. do you see any realistic chance that congress sits down, votes on and passes comprehensive immigration reform before november? >> i do. im hopeful. obviously got to get it through a lot of the rhetor...

Legislation, but to simply stop removing kids from their parents, he could pick up the phone and say dont do it anymore, right? >> he could, indeed. he could make that directive right now that could stop immediately. thats what previous administrations have done. but you can see just the push and the pull, and in fact, the disagreements inside this administration, inside this west wing just because of on the record comments weve heard from stephen miller on immigration. the attorney general also...