Over two weeks ago. And so the Border Patrol was arresting dozens and dozens of kids a day at that time, sometimes as many as 100 a day. And so the real total by the time the president changed his mind about this was about 3,000. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has visited facilities in new york state that are holding some of these children, and he does not believe the president s new task force will reunite parents and children. Its impossible legally to reunite the child and the parent. By law, they cannot put the child in a Detention Facility and what the administration is still doing is keeping the parents in a Detention Facility. So you cannot unite them with a parent. When they talk about reunification, theyre talking about trying to find another Family Member in this country,
an aunt, uncle or something, and see if that relative will take in the child. Andrew cuomo knows how the federal bureaucracy works and doesnt work. He was the secretary of Housing And Urban Development in the clinton administration. Time magazine has obtained a secret United States navy memo which says, quote, the u. S. Navy is preparing plans to construct sprawling Detention Centers for Tens Of Thousands of immigrants on remote bases in california, alabama, and arizona. The navy memo outlines plans to build temporary and austere tent cities to house 25,000 migrants at abandoned air fields just outside the florida panhandle, near mobile, alabama, at Navy Outlying field wolf in orange beach, alabama, and at Navy Outlying field silverhill. The memo also proposes a camp for as many as 47,000 people at former naval weapons station
concord near San Francisco and another facility that could house as many as 47,000 people at camp pendleton, the marines largest Training Facility located along the Southern California coast. The New York Times reports today the chaos inside the Trump Administration over the president s socalled executive order, which is not actually an executive order, its just a memo, still, the memo, quote, led to a tense argument at the white house late thursday as senior officials across the federal government clashed over how to carry it out. Customs and Border Protection officials argued forcefully that agents who are apprehending migrant families at the border cannot refer all of the adults for prosecution because the Justice Department does not have the resources to accept all of the cases. As a result, the officials from customs and Border Protection told white house and Justice Department officials that they
have had to issue fewer Prosecution Referrals of adults with children despite the president s Zero Tolerance policy. Leading off our discussion now is msnbc legal analyst Danny Cevallos who spent today at a courthouse in mcallen, texas. Danny, what did you see in the proceedings there . We walked into the courtroom and 60 to 70 defendants were all shackled, one hand by their waist, the right hand left open to sign documents and swear an oath. This is a very unusual thing in federal court, lawrence. I handled federal criminal cases. You typically have a half dozen defendants waiting in court for their case. Having 60 to 70 defendants in a Courtroom Waiting for these misdemeanor 1325 cases is very, very unusual for federal court. You see that in state court. The other thing that was unusual was the way they combined the initial appearance, the plea, and even the sentencing all into a onetime event that lasted
really just one or two minutes per defendant and still took the better part of two to three hours. The result is prosecution of these Misdemeanor Cases in a Conveyor Belt fashion, and sentences being handed out, sameday service, and almost 100 of all defendants pleading guilty rather than elect to take a trial. Danny, what is the state of clarity or confusion . How would you describe it with the prosecutors there . Its an interesting situation because on some level the prosecutors this is usually a relatively easy federal prosecution for them. Their Conviction Rate must be around 99 because almost every defendant pleads guilty. But the reality is in the last few years, while apprehensions and other convictions have gone
up, the median sentence for these crimes has plummeted because the federal government is focusing more on these lower level petty Misdemeanor Cases. The result of that is a clogged court docket so that prosecutors essentially need these defendants to plead guilty. If they didnt, if even half of them didnt, the courthouse would explode with cases backed up as these defendants waited for trial. Instead, prosecutors are handing over an incentive for a quick plea to move these defendants on, give them to customs and Border Protection and get them back across the border into mexico. Because if they didnt, the docket would explode with cases. Danny cevallos in mcallen, texas, thank you for joining us tonight, really appreciate it. And were joined now by peter schey, the president for the center of human rights and constitutional law. Peter, thank you for joining us again tonight. Youve been Breaking News the last two nights in a row on this show, first by announcing that
the Justice Department had reached out to you the very day that the president issued his socalled executive order. They told you that they might go into court as early as the next day, which they then did. You reported to us that they went into court asking the judge basically to waive some of the provisions of the flores case that would then allow them to keep children in custody with their parents for an indefinite amount of time. Has the judge granted that request and have you been able to respond to the governments request . The judge has not yet responded to the papers that we filed today. We basically suggested to the court that it schedule a briefing schedule, that it require the government, the department of justice, to file a moral comprehensive and comprehensible brief thats actually supported by some evidence. That the court then give us a reasonable time to respond to
that and to then schedule a hearing. We also did indicate to the court that were investigating the situation. Right now were interviewing children who have been separated from their parents and that we might be in a position to be requesting some Emergency Relief from the court shortly. Because the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions department, basically presented this to the judge as an emergency. They wanted an Emergency Response from the judge. The judge has not seen it to be an emergency, apparently, and has not given them a ruling on whether they can house the children with parents indefinitely. But you have investigators out there. Your lawsuit allows you uniquely the power to visit these institutions basically anywhere in the country since every one of these children is technically in the class action represented by you. What are your lawyers who are out there interviewing children, what are they discovering and have they found any of these Infant Babies that we have been
trying to find . We have not found the Infant Babies at this point. What we have found is that parents of children are still being deported. Often their guilty pleas are accepted. Through discussions with parents and with public defenders and government officials, we have found out that the vast majority of these guilty pleas are coerced because the children are being held hostage. We have also found out that probably 80 of these guilty pleas should not have been accepted by the courts, they should not have been prosecuted in the first place because the parents had a reasonable fear of persecution when they entered the country without inspection, which means that was not a crime. Were finding that children have no Telephone Contact with their parents, so in terms of Making Decisions for the children, including their legal decisions,
instead of the parents making those decisions, in essence the federal government is making those decisions for the children. We have found that many children are being held in what appear to be cage type of facilities. So the disarray continues. The chaotic situation continues. And we will do our best to eventually bring this to the attention of the court and see if the court can play a role in straightening this out. Peter, let me get a Quick Reaction to this Breaking News that they are now establishing a new task force to figure out how to reunite parents and children. Does that indicate that they dont know how to reunite the parents and children . It does. Its far too little and its far too late. The damage to these children has been done. The psychological damage has been done. The violations of the flores settlement and of the rights of
these children have taken place. And to be honest, we do not trust the Trump Administration to properly handle a reunification program. So now were trying to generate social workers, pediatricians, lawyers who can play a constructive role in the reunification program, because we just do not trust the Trump Administration to do this humanely or effectively. Peter schey, thank you very much for joining us tonight with your invaluable insight on this. Really appreciate it. Coming up, today President Trump actually tried to get laughs and tell jokes in front of grieving families, but he did not say one word about the babies that he is holding in jails, in the United States. And tom arnold is here. Tom arnold has been making the rounds on tv today, since he tweeted this picture of him and Michael Cohen. And we will see how tom arnolds relationship with Michael Cohen is going by the time he gets here tonight at the last word. Oh, you brought butch. Yeah butch growls at man hes looking at me right now, isnt he . Yup. butch barks at man butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. laughs vo you can never have too many faithful companions. Thats why i got a subaru crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. Im a tin can tied to your bumper, cause. I dont think enough people heard about your big day. But nothing says We Got Married like a 12 ounce piece of scrap metal. Yo We Got Married honk if you like joint assets. Now youre so busy soaking up all this attention, you dont see the car in front of you. And if i can crash your perfect day, imagine what i can do to the rest of em. So get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem. Like me. And were committed to improving every ride. T to you starting with features designed to make it easy for your driver to find you. Taking the stress out of pickups. And were putting safety at the heart of everything we do. With a single tap, were giving you new ways to let loved ones know youre on your way. Uber has new leadership, a new vision and is moving in a new direction. Forward. Desperate attempt to repair the political damage that he created, the president created a media event at the executive Office Building beside the white house today that had nothing to do with the babies and toddlers and children being separated from their parents on the southern border. The president invited nine people to tell their tragic stories of losing loved ones in encounters with undocumented adults who were living in the United States. Here is the president at that event today lying about crime committed by immigrants. I always hear that, oh, no, the population is safer than the people that live in the country. Youve heard that, fellas, right . Youve heard that. I hear so much and i say is that possible . The answer is its not true. You hear its like theyre better people than what we have, than our citizens. Its not true. A study by the conservative Cato Institute from february
found that in the border state of texas, nativeborn residents were much more likely to be convicted of a crime than immigrants in the country legally or illegally. The journal criminology reported in march that states with larger shares of undocumented immigrants tended to have lower crime rates than states with smaller shares in the years 1990 through 2014. Increases in the undocumented immigrant population within states are associated with significant decreases in the prevalence of violence. The president s event today was a deadly serious event for everyone there. Except the president. The president is, of course, obsessed with looks. And so he did what no other president would do at an event like this especially, when thanking the Border Patrol officers who were in attendance. The president talked about their looks before he mentioned their bravery. He said, and theyre goodlooking people, arent they . Goodlooking people. Thank you very much for being here and for your bravery. Bravery an afterthought to looks. Later when the president was introducing a woman who was holding a picture of her son, who was murdered, the president looked at the picture of this still grieving mothers son and said this. This is tom selleck. Except better looking, right . Better looking. Nine people with tragic stories to tell then stepped up to the microphone and most of them, most of them told stories of how their loved ones were killed in traffic accidents. The president never mentioned any of the babies that he is holding under arrest in america tonight. Joining our discussion now isWashington Post opinion Writer Jonathan capehart and maria teresa kumar. President and ceo of voter latino. Both are msnbc contributors. Maria teresa, this was clearly an event staged to counter all the other information weve been getting from the Southern Border Tonight and these were tragic, horrible stories that we heard about today, including the traffic deaths, no mistake about it. These drunk driving deaths. But it had nothing to do with the babies. It had nothing to do with the children. It had nothing to do with the girls that were still not being allowed to see at the southern border. Thats exactly right, lawrence. What the president is trying to do is basically taking a page book from what started his election, which was trying to criminalize undocumented immigrants and paint them all with the same brush. The fact that he shepherded all these women and fathers in front of a microphone to tell their tragic stories, America Grieves for them. No one wants to lose a child. But to not have the decency to address his policy and recognize
that there are 2,300 children that are separated right now from their families, in some cases in cages, but in some cases the authorities actually do not know where they are. And as you recall, there was you had a guest earlier this week that mentioned that sometimes the government may never even find them. There should be all Hands On Deck to make sure that these children that are right now living separated from their families in unjust conditions are reunited as quickly as possible. Thats what he should be talking about. Jonathan, as we know, what he also talked about today was this tweet where he said we must maintain a strong southern border. We cannot allow our country to be overrun by Illegal Immigrants as the democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief. Jonathan, that made me wonder if when the first lady returned from her visit to the border, did she tell the president that what those children told her were phony stories of sadness and grief . Look, lawrence, i have that tweet and everything weve seen this week, everything that the president wouldnt talk about with those grieving families, is a demonstration, yet another demonstration of a lack of a moral core to the man whos president of the United States and a lack of a moral core within this administration. Thats why he can stand up there and send that tweet talking about these phony stories of sadness. Its so its so enraging, lawrence, that the president of the United States would institute a policy, force his administration to do this policy, then reverse it, and then not do anything remotely to make sure that the e. O. Such as it was could be implemented effectively. Both the Washington Post and
the New York Times have stories about the arguments taking place within the white house, within the administration, about how to do this. If the president doesnt want to hear about what he calls phony stories of sadness, he shouldnt implement policies that make it