Was i wrong a few weeks ago . Yes. I was. Brennan telling voters he regrets recent comments about past work with segregationist senators. Im sorry if any of the pain or misconception that may have caused anybody. Brennan that after postdebate polls showed the former Vice President losing support while california senator Kamala Harris gained ground. Join me as we right what is wrong. Brennan well talk with one candidate hoping to beat them both. Former maryland congressman john delaney. All that and political analysis of the week up next on face the nation. Good morning. Welcome to face the nation. We begin with the acting director of u. S. Citizenship services, ken cuccinelli. His agency manages the processing of applications for refugees, those seeking asylum or citizenship. Thank you for being here. My pleasure. Brennan President Trump said he would delay the roundup of migrants for two weeks until congress overhauled asylum laws. Its been two weeks. This has not happened. What does the administration do . Well, essentially at this point, itsnr been put in the acting director at ices hands. Hes a career ice officer. He came up through ranks. Theyre ready to perform the mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one Million People who have final removal orders. Theyve been all the way through the due process, and they have final removal orders. Who among those will be targeted for this particular effort or not is really just information kept within ice at this point . Brennan so there had been reports this would be in the thousands . Youre saying the roundups will be far larger scale . No, new york im just pointing out that the pool of those with final removal orders is enormous. And you know, its important to note, here we are talking about ice doing its job as if its special, and really this should be going on on a rolling basis for ice. They have been interfered with effectively and held up by the politics of washington to a certain extent. Brennan well, the Trump Administration theyre looking forward to getting back to doing their job. Brennan congress has not changedn o asylum law. They have notxdni toyrq brennan do you expect anything . I saw the house calendar put out by the speakers office. . nx3 i waskjf disappointed to see nothing on that calendar to address this subject before they all go on vacation in august. So there is brennan can you act would congress . There are things were doing. There are regulatory changes. They take a long time. They are not the equivalent of a legal change by congress. We really need congress, for instance toshes fix the trafficking loophole that allows children from the northern triangle, for instance, and other countries around the world, to not be repatriated quickly and return to their families. We need help with the flores fix, the flores settlement that even the Obama Administration fought the judgeckn that case in 2015 brennan this puts a 20day limit on it was understood for almost 20 years that was to deal with unaccompanied children. A judge in 2015, opposed by the Obama Administration, expanded that to families. And that has tied our facilities up in knots. Its made it very difficult to manage that population, to keep the Families Together in detention while they go through the due process. Brennan i understand youre new to the job, but you just pointed out the democratic controlled houseni hasnt actedn asylum laws. Why didnt the Trump Administration do anything on this when republicans were in control of two houses . Moni why didnt trump and leader mcconnell do it . I think the effort was made and congress wasnt responsive. Brennan leader mcconnell wasnt able to get this done . Right now you see the only effort arising out of senator durbin is the discussion i observe. I see it from the same perspective you do, meaning outside, to try to work on asylum loophole fixes. Thats the only place we see any effort going on right now. Brennan tell me about some of the regulatory changes you think you can make without congressional approval. Right. Well, there are some coming over the next few months like the public charge rule. Were lookingwhat we can do in the flores environment without short of legislation to ease the pressure on our agesi mean the three immigration agencies are more agency, u. S. C. I. S. , which handles asylum and refugees, as you noted, and, of course, ice, detention and removal, and interior enforcement, and the border patrol, c. B. P. , doing what their name describes as border protection. So all working together. And we also have some adjustments in the asylum space coming we hope theyre working on but part of what we have to analyze is does congress have to do this. And how much cancoxd we do. So those are things that im just diving in in my first month to determine how father we can go without congress, because until theyre willing to act, were not going to see a significant change. Brennan you have not been formally nominated and appointed by the president. Correct. Brennan congress has not confirmed you. Correct. Im a deputy. I serve as acting director. Brennan how much authority do you think you have to make cheese changes . It seems like, and critics will certainly say you continue to try to bypass congress the make changes in a way that is not how their oversight role is supposed to function. Look, youre hearing from me. Youll hear from the acting secretary. Youve heard from the president. We want the see congress act. Its a congressional solution thats going to be required for longterm lasting change that doesnt get tied up in court in the way that every regulation does. Brennan well, on those regulatory changes, can you change the definition of who is allowed to immigrate and claim asylum, and how do you do that in a way that doesnt keep people who areni legitimately fleeing violence and persecution from seeking safe haven . Its important for people the realize that we continue to effectuate people who are here for legitimate purposes. Brennan the administration tried and failed to change that. Theyt tried to block those fleeing domestic violence. They tried to block those fleeing gang violence. The courts said no. Well, the courts. The president has attempted to undertake several action, including cutting off asylum between poshts of entry. That was enjoined by courts. Thats being litigated. The level of judicial activism to stop this administration is historically unprecedented. We have never seen anything like it before. Brennan i want to get on to the border detention facility. You dont have oversight of those in your current role. But this i. G. Report that came out this week just confirmed what we have been hearing from Homeland Security since back in march about the horrific conditions in many of these facilities, overcrowding, thousands more detainees being held for longer, including children, than they should have been. Right. Brennan you now have billions from congress. When does this change . Well, its already changed. Most of the money in the supplemental, which is what i assume youre referencing, went to address children in the process. And, in fact, over the course of the last month, since that supplemental, we have gone from about 2,500 children in facilities not designed for them down to a fraction of that. Brennan so those images that we saw this week, a government investigator released. Right. Brennan is that still happening at u. S. Facilities . That is not happening with respected to children in particular. We do have overcrowding in some places, but thats matter of the rush at the border and what our system has been designed to absorb. And while the same people come down to the border from congress and complain about it, they dont actually go back to washington and do anything to fix it. Brennan lastly, on this census, there seems to be consensus that you do need to know the number of people in the country, but when it comes to the question of citizenship, which is where we have seen this back and forth with the Supreme Court saying the administration cant move forward with its legal justification at this time, the president says he still wants to, the concern here is that it could also caused by including it a skewing of the results, inaccurate figures. Well, its been collected many, many times in the past. Brennan not including this question since the 06s. In the 1950s its been included. And its also been included in a more detailed example. I dont know what the Commerce Department calls it that doesnt count every single brennan but immigration officials like yourself will not see ultimately the details of this census. Answers are not tied to its aggregated data. So thats correct. Brennan so are you concerned this is being used for political purposes . Thats why im asking you this question. Well, the census is intended to gather an awful lot of information. However, if your question is will my agency or other agencies see a person who says, no, im in the a citizen, their name and address is taken on an aggregated basis, thats not individualized day that comes to us. Brennan so no . Correct. Brennan we turn now to democrat chris coons who is part of a Bipartisan Group of senators who continue to work on immigration reform. He joins us from wilmington, delaware. Welcome, senator. You just heard from mr. Cuccinelli that the administration will try to change asylum or the ability to claim asylum because congress isnt doing anything. Is there going to be any proposal put forward by congress . Xd well, margaret, the challei that those of us in congress who want to make progress on addressing our broken immigration system have faced is the ways in which President Trump initially embraces and then abruptly reverses himself and opposes those bipartisan proposals that have been brought to him. Ken cuccinelli just referenced correctly that senatorsk and durbin, a seasoned republican and democrat, have tried repeatedly to get a proposal moving that could win both bipartisan support in the senate and ultimately be embraced by President Trump. Several times many of us who have worked across the aisle on this issue have been deeply frustrated by the ways inant rt saying he would welcomec proposal, gets for a day or two by the right wing and then reverses himself andco campaigns against it or threatens to veto it. So frbn were going to make progress unless President Trump is willingxd to take a fixed point and say,ly accept these changes, and frankly, margaret, the ways in which ken just referred to loopholes as things that are Legal Protections for children and their parents in detention, i think misreads the core issue. Thesenoncq these are core featuresc american law that protect children in american custody. Brennan so specifically, on the things that cuccinelli referenced that was about being able to the duration in which children and family members can be held and about trafficking. What part of that, since youve worked on trafficking, do you think was false . Well, my concern here is that weve got an administration that has intentionally used cruelty to children as a tool of immigration policy. Ill remind you that there their zerotolerance policy that forcibly separated children and their families was a disaster that faced a bipartisan outcry from boat republicans and democrats. They dont have a lot of moral authority to stand on in arguing that they would Like Congress to give them an unlimited ability to detain children and their parents at the border. The bipartisan bill that just made it out of congress to provide funding increases the number of Immigration Judges and increases support for more humane conditions at the border. Thats the right direction for us to go. Brennan esz you just referenced the border conditions. In that i. G. Report, the Inspector General report that came out this week, people seem to be horrified rightfully so at some of the images. But these are things that the administration had been warning about going back as far back as march during congressional hearings. Why hasnt there been more swift action to try to improve the conditions for people being held in u. S. Detention and dont democrats deserve some criticism on that front . Well, margaret, we have been trying on a bipartisan basis to avoid this inevitable humanitarian catastrophe at the border. But ill remind you, it because lawyer representing this administration who argued in court just two weeks ago that safe and sanitary conditions for children doesnt include a requirem soap or toothpaste fxd or toothbrushes or beds. There are ways in which thenr administration has demonstrably failed in its moral responsibility to provide minimallyq children in their custody. I think all of us as parents, as americans, were horrified by the picture of Oscar Ramirez martinez and his daughter veleria who drowned trying to cross the rio grande. We have to find a bipartisan solution, margaret. As a democrat i have votedni repeatedly for bills that would dramatically increase investment in Border Security and makel8 p immigration system. The president just needs to be clear about what he is willing to embrace, and it has to get a majority of his own party. Xdckio his proposal last february was the only one thatni 6 majority senate. Brennan more to talk about on immigration, there always is, but i have to ask you about your friend, who you are supporting, the former Vice President , joe biden. After more than three weeks since he first made the comments, biden apologized yesterday for his remark on past work with segregationists. Listen. Folks, now was i wrong a few weeksw impression to people they was praising those men who i successfully opposed time and again . Yes, i was. I regret it. Im sorry for any of the pain or misconception that may have caused anybody. [applause] brennan why did it take nearly three weeks to say those words . nico why werent they say on the debate stage or in prior interviews . One of the challenges of the debate stage that we saw in miami last week is that everybody has 60 seconds to address very complex issues. I know joe biden. I know his heart. I know his record. I think the American People brennan im sorry doesnt take very long. Im sorry . Brennan saying im sorry doesnt take 30 seconds. Well, i think its important that he gave a speech in which he recognized that the ways in which he talked about working across the aisle in theni contet of the senate of decades ago may have caused some concern or heartbreak, but the reality is his actual record, his lifelong record of fighting for civil rights is what he should be junged on. Brennan senator, always good to speak with you. Well be back in one mi 2020ni democratic president ial koran date john delaney. Dont go away. We mean what can we do . We mean its our turn. To do our part. To serve you, for all youve done to serve us. Here i go again on my own goin down the only road ive ever known like a drifter i was born to walk alone youre a drifter . I thought you were kevins dad. Little bit of both. If you ride, you get it. Geico motorcycle. Democratic president ial candidate and former maryland congressman john delaney. Hes been seeking his partys nomination now for almost two years. You have been on that trail. I think you declared six months after President Trump was inaugurated. Why do you want to be president . Well, i think the central issue facing this country is how terribly divided we are and how our government doesnt work anymore, meaning we dont get anything done. Im running for president to get america working again so that we can actually fix health care, build infrastructure, improve public education, make sure there are jobs in every community in this country. Those are the reasons im running for president. To do any of those things, we have to start coming together. We have to find common ground. We cant act like Bipartisan Solutions areni dirty words that we canwti say in wa u mgtdz anymore. Brennan isorgno people would agree wce its a lot harder to get thi done, particularly on issues like immigration. Yes. So what would you do . Two questions here. Would you decriminalize Border Crossings, and what would you do with the thousands of migrants currently in u. S. Custody . I wouldnt decriminalize Border Crossings, but i would make it illegal to separate children from their families. Brennan would you change the flores agreement in terms of limitation on the amount of time children can be held . Yes. I would. We have to brennan wow would allow them to be detained for longer . New york i dont want children to be detained longer at all. I want to go the other way. We have the treat people who cross our borders with dignity. It has to reflect our values, but we need comprehensive immigration reform. It should have passed in 2013. I think with the right president do, margaret, is we need to fix whats going on in those central mesh countries. My wife and i were down at the border at the beginning of the year. We took 14 law students and two law professors for a week and went into the daringest detention facility in this country. What we were doing is helping Asylum Seekers make their case. When you listen to the stories from these people, you realize that everyone is leaving for the right reasons. They feel threatened. Their children are threatened. And unless we do things to rebuild Civil Society in the three Central American countries, were going to continue to have this refugee crisis. So i called for something called planned central america, which is very similar to something called planned colombia, that we did a few decades ago, where wes around the table, ngos that can operate in these countries, and we fix the problem. We have to focus on that or we will continue to see a migration kind of refugee crisis at our southern border. Brennan what would you do with the migrants already in cust u. S. Dy . Well, were putting more money there based on the bill that passed this week, which i totally agree. With we need to make our asylum laws more efficient in terms of how these th