Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With David Gura 20180617

Vote for us, were standing up. It is cruel and inhumane, all of us must stand of and own it and notinquish or agency in this. My colleague mariana atense i dont joins us from mcallen, texas. We see a protest behind you. What are you hearing, mariana . Reporter here in the valley is outraged standing right in front of the that Processing Center that jacob describe. You can see not even the 100degree heat is deterring many families, and lets children inside know that they have a base of support out here in the community. One of the voices of if the support is congressman bela. You represent the valley. Can you tell us how how important it is to be out here. What this country is seeing today is for 2,000 children or more to come, is the American Dream turning into an american nightmare. All because the president of the United States has decided to impose the zerotolerance policy. Reporter for you to be here i understand to welcome other members of congress, so that how critical is it especially for all these people here . I think its critical for lawmakers across this country to understand what is different about this unaccompanied minor surge from back in thats different from what happened back in 2014 and 2016 when we sauce a soldier of unaccompanied minors here, is this is an accompanied minor crisis manufactured by the president of the United States. If the president had not imposed the zerotolerance policy, we would not be living through this today. Thats why members of congress from all over this country are coming here today. Reporter thank you so much for the background and contrast, david. As you know, there was a child my grant crisis in 2014. I was talking to the congressman that the person were placed in the same Processing Center jacob was but what makes this crisis different and what has all these people outraged is because the kids parents are being prosecuted, thats the separation is happening, because the u. S. Government is making it so. That just continues to tear your heart when you hear these stories, the fact this is on Donald Trumps hands, and again that is why you have all these people out here. One of them told me we are sure that the children in there can hear us. So theyre going to scream as loud as they can and be out here for the next hour or so. Thank you, mariana. Shell continue to cover the protest throughout the afternoon. Thats whats happening on the u. S. mechanic ko border. In the belt wii President Trump was at the golf course again today, will travel to capitol hill on tuesday to meet with House Republicans to discuss immigration reform. With us is kelly odonnell. She covers the white house, jane newton small and Caitlyn Huey Burns are here. Kellie, we got a statement earlier from the first ladys reaction to what we have seen we have it upthere. To this tone, this perspective doesnt seem to have changed here. Its always notable when a first lady comments on policies, and certainly with mrs. Trump, he has demonstrated an interest in Child Welfare sure, so there might be some overlap. What i think is notable about her statement through her office is that it does have a softer tone, a more conciliatory tone, a motherly tone, if you will, but in substance shes not breaking with the president tore the administration on key issues. The laws must be followed. Her hope is a bipartisan solution to immigration issues can be achieved, but she also notes that the government can operate with heart. Thats something we have heard the president say, not very often, but he has used that phrase. So in mrs. Trumps statement, shes certainly putting a softer touch on this, and a hopeful tone that this can be resolved. Thats different from what were hearing from some of the hardline advocates. Steve bannon, for example, a former strategist who was speaking out today, saying he does not think the president will back down. Also from the counselor to the president , Kelly Anne Conway, she said as a mother and person with a conscience, she troubled by this, but at the same time says there needs to be a legislative fix. At the same time no one is directly answering the issue of whether the president with unilaterally end the enforcement of this policy. Theres no question there are legislative problems and fixes that need to be made. There isnt sufficient funding for Detention Centers that would keep parents and children together, if that option were pursu pursued. Obviously looking at ways to provide other sorts of immigration relief, whether its for the daca students, the dreamer kids as theyre known or the president s pet project, the border wall. You mentioned tuesday he will go to the house meeting with republicans, who have two different bills that they are considering. Hard to imagine getting any immigration bill through and onto his desk in a med term election year, but certainly the images and realities affecting these children and families is creating political pressure. The the president also wants to deliver on the border wall promise, and in the big scheme of things, even though the reps control the white house and congress, they would need democratic support, because some of the most hardline republicans dont support anything that would look like, as they would use the word amnesty for young immigrants, the dreamers. You need democrats to help out. They need to looking at all of that, david, it is hard to see how they accomplished that in a midterm year. Both parties can use these issues for their own political purposes, but they also have to answer for the reality affectsing the children and families who are certainly getting a lot of attention now, and people who want to do something to change the separation of families. David . Jane newton small, kellie mentioning Kelly Anne Conway on meet the press this morning. Nobody likes this policy. The president wants this to end, but everybody has congress has to act. He can end it on his own. This is a congressional law from many years, it is a crime to enter this country illegally. So if they dont like that law, they should change it. Jay, let me vent the same frustration that you saw from chuck todd there. This could be solved quickly, if not immediately, and somebody is saying nobody likes this policy. Clearly somebody in that building with a lot of power does like it, because it persists. Absolutely. This is a reinterpretation of a law by the Trump Administration that has, as kellyanne points out has existed for decades. Its obviously it is again to come into the United States, but this is the first time we are separating children from their families as they do this, as they enter the country. It is clearly a new interpretation of a very old law the Trump Administration is taking, and theyre doing it clearly to create political pressure, and doing it to try to get democrats and try to get republicans in their own party to pay for this wall that trump so dearly wants and to get something moving in congress. The problem is this is a not the right people they are looking to talk to, in the sent that republicans are not talking to democrats. Theyre not part of any kind of negotiations involving immigration, and they need to be if youre going to have to move forward with a bill that will pass the senate with 60 votes. Youll see this monday, youve got shelly moore caputo, who is the West Virginia senator, who will be meeting with President Trump, who chairs the hhs subcommittee on appropriation, who would get enough and shes basically delivering bad news, where shes going to say we dont have enough money to do this and youre going to have to convince enough democrats to do this wall and by separating families is not the best way to build that pressure. Its not going to move any votes in an election year. The last question to you, with the caveat this is a white house issue that the administration could change. There have been whisperings that they could do on this sure separating children from family, yet this seems to be no appetite to engage in that. Mark meadows of the House Freedom caucus, he wants it to be part of a larger, more comprehensive immigration bill. Do you see that starting to change at all, amid st. This outrage. Do you think thats going to change, this is something that the congress will be willing to take up in specific . Sure. Time will tell, when you have those images coming from the border that you have been playing throughout your show, you see lawmakers making their way to the border to make a statement of sorts, trying to increase the public pressure on lawmakers to do something. The thing the problem is that any Time Congress is faced with an issue involving immigration, they feel that they wont have another chance or an opportunity to get something in legislati that they want thats even tangentially related to we saw that congress was unable to pass kind of a clean or gain support for a clean daca bill. Instead they kind of added on a lot of different measures. The president , of course, as we remember intervened, also called for curbs to legal immigration. So youre having a variety of different groups trying to acertain different amounts of because this will be the final opportunity to do that. The difference, though, with, you know, this and daca, as compared to some other items that we have seen is this of course involves a very compelling group, which is children, in this case children who are being separated from their families, an the politics involved are very different for people not to reaction emotional and viscerally to those imaging. Well see if the public pressure continues. I would note, however, in regard to the meetings the president is versus with reps, hes talked and has, you know, had a compassionate approach, only to reverse course hours or days later. Caitlyn thank you for the time. My thanks to kelly and jae as well. A longtime associate of the president s at that time reporting with roger stone and a Russian National during the 2016 campaign in florida. Its Pretty Amazing out there. The world is full of more possibilities than ever before. And American Express has your back every step of the way whether its the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. Or getting financing to fund your business. No one has your back like American Express. So where ever you go. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of American Express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. Thats confident. But its not kayak confident. Kayak searches hundreds of travel and Airline Sites to find the best flight for me. So im more than confident. Hoyourily . Kayak. Search one and done. gasp singsong budget meeting sweet. If you compare last quarter to this quarter. Various mmm. Its no wonder everything seems a little better with the creamy taste of philly, made with fresh milk and real cream. New today the Washington Post reporting that roger stone, longtime confidant of President Trump, met with a russian who offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 president ial campaign. Well, that meeting was arranged by Trump Campaign official mike caputo, and reports of interest to Robert Mueller and his team. On the subject, the post also reporting that the president s allies are, quote, preparing for war as he nears the end of his yearlong probe. Joing muss is msnbc legal analyst katy phang. There is a lot of intrigue. Roger stone meets with henry green berg. Theres a lot of confusion here. They were maintaining this is being paid for by someone paid by the fbi. This contributed to michael capu caputo. If believe that he took tyke off from his long career to reach on the in his spare time, i have a bridge in brooklyn that i want to sell to you. What do you make of this what does it tell you about what was happens in that Trump Campaign . They don a make America Tshirt and hat and arrange a meeting to be able to pick off roger stone and michael caputo, well, youre dead wrong. Heres the bottom line. Paul manafort was the Trump Campaign manager and head of this Trump Campaign from march of 2016 to august of 2016. What contact does the Trump Campaign have with the russians during that time in at least george papadopoulos, and now he know mir raw his will you they remember that they had act with a Russian National when they previously lied, to house on Intel Committee members, when they had they never had private contact with russians, then suddenly both of them have memory recall . Oh, yay, by the way, we had this meeting, but roger stone is running around saying, it was, so, quote innocuous, he didnt refer it. His contact with gusifer who got into the dnc emails, he said i forgot about that, because it was so brief i had no memory of it. Its absurd. What stone is trying to do is damage control. He is probably and likely going to be indicted by mueller vets shortly. We have the timetable up there of meetings that took place during a compressed period of time. Hes meeting in which he found on the that the russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton then the release of the dnc emails in july of 2016. Let me pivot here, katy to account about the receipt ricks and how its changed. It doesnt have a lot to do bosch but thats not stopped members of is the Previous Team to speak about thinks issues more broadly. Well, heres the thing. I challenge anything that any of the to tell me that they read i. G. Report. It is such a reach, such a stret to be able to say that ig report, which clearly does bring serious claims about a lack o propriety, a selection we cant were bosed to, as Law Enforcement leave your biases and prejudices outside. You should by called out on it. When it comes from a legal perspective, nothing there impugn the mueller investigation. So if trump wants to continue his receipt ricks that theres some crazy collusion but rudy giuliani, so lets see paul man a fort is sitting in prison. Lets see in roger stone gets indi indicted. Theres a lot of people that still have a lot of information to offer to mueller. Nous just the mueller is it team. Katie, tnk y very much. President trump on twitter taking a victory lap, and i should say its a long victory lap. He wrote even if it does save potentially millions and millions of lives. Also writing holding back the war games was my request, because they are very expensive and set a bad light during a good faith negotiation, also quite provocative, can start up immediately if talks break doane, which i hope will happen. David, great to speak with you. I want to ask you first about mike pompeo. He visited a allies, and let me play a bit of sound. With respect to the pace at which the denuclearization will take place, i think we both agree that we need to do it as timely fashioned as possible to achieve the outcomes. With respect to the scope and scale i dont want to get into details of our intelligence precisely, but we have a reasonable understanding. It is incredibly important that we get a full understanding of that as quickly as possible. David ignatius, a timetable not part of that onepage document for the president and kim jongun signed. What do you make of what mime pompeo has to accomplish here, certainly a country with which we havent had many dealings. Is it a fool ease errand as well, just trying to make sense of what weaponshis regime has . I dont think its a fools errand, but its a real challenge. Donald trumps meeting was long on the photo opportunity, handshake, pat on the back side, and very short on details. Mike pompeo has the key intermediary. This trip after the summit i think is a cleanup tour, going to south korea, to japan, our two key allies, and trying to reestablish some framework going forward. The chinese want to know, okay, if donald trump says theres no more north Korean Nuclear threat, does that mean we can take off our sanctions on north korea . Similarly, the japanese who remain highly concerned about north korean behavior, wasnt to know, you know, is this now America Hayes friend in the regi region . Trumps tweets i think make this more difficult for mime pompeo, not the way around. You talk about him doing that cleanup work in asia, as he visits they capitals, and talks to officials. Is it your sense that he continues to enjoy the confidence of the president , what he says about a timetable or sanctioning is speaking for the president. I think mime pompeo is the person who really is the trump whisperer. Hes the man who can fin trumps sentences. Hes in sync with trump certainly in a way that Rex Tillerson wasnt. I think he is seen as the president s real intermediary, but some key thing he has said and that trump is in effect followed, one of the them is to say our agreement to stop military exercise with south korea isondition all on timping good faye negotiation. Its nots apermanent, you have to keep earning it. That was not clear after the summit. Then trump yeah, thats right, im glad he said that, because it needs to be conditional. Help us understand the import historically of the military exercises. You look at the president s tweets as you just mentioned he puts war games in quotation mark, weve seen the backlash from senator john mccain, saying thinks a mistake to cans the these. How important are they to readiness in the region . They exercises that have been going on, theyre held dwight annually are the way both that we have demonstrated our resolved, working with south korea, or ally so theyve been important for signaling and i would cautious that the u. S. Has an awful lot of Additional Forces in the region. Its not as if you stopped exercising the 28 those troops your readiness would vanish. Most of the key assets are outside south korea, so i think people should bear that in mind. Its a signal, a signal we dont intend to threaten kim jongun, so long as he keeps bargaining. Thats the keep point made by pomp on. In terms of military risks, im told its fairly modest. I urge everyone to take a look at this piece. We dont know the extension of that, we dont know what kind of research continues. This goes a huge x factor, not know exactly whats happening impts i think one way to put it is this is the biggest challenge for u. S. Intelligence, for the cia, in terms of recruiting human sources for our nsa and other technical collection agencies, knowing what theyve got is essential if were going to begin to establish verseification regime. The most important thing, as pompeo and others have said, is to have more americans on the ground, either as part of iaea inspection teams, which ought to be part of any Real Movement of denuclearization, or the event that we establish diplomatic relations, open an intersection or an actual embassy. You can be sure that job one is thinking, how do i get more information so i know what theyve got . We have seen over past deck katsds the North Koreans are very good a at hiding their weapons system over our intelligence collection. David ignatius on this fathers day, happy fathers day. Thanks, same to you, david. Thank you very much. Back to the border where the president s possible is having profound Health Effects on children. Well talk with two people who have been inside. Well also speak with the head of the American Academy of pediatrics. Both join me, next. Alice is living with metastatic breastr, which is Breast Cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. Shes also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptorpositive her2 metastatic Breast Cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at dase progression versus letrozole. Patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. Before taking ibrance, tell yourtor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. Common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. Alice calls it her new normal because a lot has changed, but a lot hasnt. Ask your doctor about ibrance. The 1 prescribed fdaapproved oral Combination Treatment for hr her2 mbc. A hilton getaway means you get more because. You get another day in paradise. Get a sunset on a sunday. Get more stories to share. Get more from your Summer Getaway with exclusive hilton offers. Book yours, only at hilton. Com welcome back, im david gurra. Doctors are worried about the health of my grant children separated from their parents. How bad are the conditions . Joining me are two people who have been inside the buildings and observed what is going o firsthand. One is dr. Coal korean craft, head of the American Academy of pediatrics. Jacob soboroff has been in them as well. Draft kraft let me start with you, your organization east leased a statement, ill read a bit from it. Separating children from their parents contradicts everything we stand for as pediatricians, protecting and promoting childrens health. We know that family separation casss irreparable harm to children. What do they face . Sure. Well, children belong with their parents. As children are growing and developing, their bodies react to stress in a way that can be really helpful in building habits, but also can be harmful unless they have a caregiver, a parent, somebody trusted to them close by. So for they very young children. Some of whom are even verbal yet, to the pratted super a parent, they develop these increasing in the stress hormones in their fight or flight hormones and stay on red alert all the time. That goes on to disrupt their brain architecture. So they dont develop speech and language. They adopt develop gross motor skills. They dont develop the ability to love and bond with people. That goes on to have chronic delays and health problems, you were looking at the conditions that these children are being held in, but this must have affected you emotionally as well. Was there a moment that stands out from the tour you took. Absolutely. The moment that stands out was when we visited one of the shelters that was a pediatricspecific shelter. This place was designed for children under 12 years of age. We walked into the toddler room. There was this little child. She was not even 2 years old, who was sobbing and screaming and wailing, and there was an office of Refugee Resettlement shelter worker trying to give her books, trying to give her toys, but was not allowed to hold her or pick her up. All of the adults in the room were just helpless, because we knew that we couldnt give her what she needed, because that was her mother, and her mother wasnt there you visited this facility for the boyce, prohibitions that are placed on contact with the children in the facility. Did you see that there . What stood out to you most . We talked to john burnet, the npr reporter, and he talked about h you can check some boxes. There were video games, tai chi classes, but this is a captive populati population. There are regulations in place like facilities to prevent child abuse. Those prevent contact with Staff Members at these organizations. I want to tell you about the equivalent of what you saw here, which is the first step to the process, this is the largest Border Patrol Processing Center in the country. There are 1129 people in here right now. There are 525 members of families that are detained together, and in this facility there are only four contracted licensed social workers to deal with children now that are basically rendered unaccompanied if their parents are separated away from them. You could have a mother or a father that ends up getting taken away to face federal charges and the child is in this facility for maybe up to 24 hours themselves. They could be 2 years old or 3 years old or 4 years old and need the attention of one of these social work eers there ar only four. The acting Border Patrol agent was telling me that just straight up, they are stretched thin based on this new policy. Jacob, im looking at my twitter feed, theres question after question barrowing from the phrase we saw where are the girls . Its going to house as many as 400 young men between the ages of 16 and 17. In your reporting, what is the answer to that question . Where are young women . Where are girls who have been traveling across the border . Reporter david, thats not up to the Border Patrol. Thats the department of Homeland Security or cdp. Thats up to the office of Refugee Resettlement. Once an unaccompanied minor leaves this facility, they have to go to an office of Refugee Resettlement facilities. There are 100 of them in 17 states. The only two weve been allowed to have young boys. Gadi schwartz went into one, i went into at one in brownsville. We have been asking to get into these facilities, whether theyve been rendered unaccompanied about the the gerald government or came by themselves we dont know where toddlers are taken when they go off on their own. We do not know where young females are. There are 98 facilities run by the o. R. R. , office of Refugee Resettlement that we have not been granted access to, yet thare certainly a number of females inside this facility. Theyre together for the time being, but then once theyre processed and they exit this facility. When the mother goes off to federal court, i cant tell you, because we dont know and we havent been told. Doctor, i want to ask you about the responsibility of physicians like yourself. I was all taken the hip ocrattic oath. Whats your role as this continues. Ho doctors see this role . At we have to t this issue through the lens of child health. Did what does this do to the health of our children . What does this do to build health or disrupt health . If the effects are negative, and we no their negative, we have to speak out about it, talk about the right policy, which is keeping kids and families together. Our children have a limited amount of time to grow and develop. We have to give them the best start we can. Dr. Craft, thank you. Only a happenedful of media allowed into that facility. The white house coming under screw in using the bible as a defense, a fact check with reverend al sharpton is next. Legendary jockey Victor Espinoza loves winning just as much. As his horse loves snacking. Thats why he uses the chase mobile® app, to pay practically anyone, at any bank. Welcome back. Im david gurra. Attorney general Jeff Sessions had a bit of a rough week after quoting scripture to justify separating my grant children from their parents. Edge religious leaders are speaking out. Joining mess is reverend al sharpton right here on msnbc host of politics nation. Jeff sessions has talked about his faith and importance of it. What did you make of his use of that passage . I think we are extremely concerned with the morality. Separating youngsters from their parents, but i think we will further incited when he idea used scriptures. He quoted romans 13. First of all if hes a sunday schoolteach schoolteacher, he needs to read the whole capital. It also talk about the responsibility of government, but what was so insulting to many of us is he used it in a way that it was used to justify slavery. The last time we saw that kind of referral, it was in the Civil Rights Era of the 60s. It was in slavery. Obey the government. Now, these are from people that came into office and did not obey the afford kabul care act, which was law. They went to work to try to dilute it, if not erode it period, or the Voting Rights law. Jeff sessions comes from alabama. When he first came in, we had a long debate about the voting laws so he seems to be selective in which verse or in which laws he wants people to follow, because they certainly are not following the laws. We have seen they religious groups come out. What is the next extension of that . I think we must go and really in a dramatic way show the concern. On tuesday leader of many Civil Rights Group well be in washington tut, as President Trump meets with House Republicans calling on them to stop some separation policy. Thats one. Sectly, if they do not stop it, a group of clergy that includes me will be going to texas, asking for the right to visit as clergy. We give mobsters the right to a clergy visit. Certainly think youngsters have the right for clergy to come in and pray with them are them when you hearty draft kraft talking about how this can pinch innocently affect them, were talking about 2,000 people and growing, and were talking about damaging these people while theyre being the children are being held hge whi the president says i want the money for my wall or im going to hold the children hostage . This is not what this country should stand for, and this is not what i see even some evangelicals who supported march trump taking issue with this and taking issue with the Jeff Sessions selection of scripture. I had a conversation with jeh johnson, the humanity, you are in the middle of this. In politics and faith. How do you keep the humanity there front and center as it turns into politics . Senator jeff merkley has just toured a facility. Lets hear what he has to say. And on the parents,hen its totally unnecessary when theyre wading for their hearing. Were going to spend two minutes apiece, and if we keep to that time schedule, we can take a couple comments afterwards. Im going to turn it over to senator chris van hollen, and hell pass it on to the members of the house. Thank you, senator merkley, for bringing this together. We just came from a Processing Center. We were able to talk to a mom. Her daughter had been separated from her in that Processing Center. Sheer charged with illegal entry. Under the new policy, they will deliberately separate moms and dads from their sons and daughters. This is a choi that the Trump Administration that is made. It is inhumane, it is cruel and we are calling on President Trump, who has total control over this decision today on fathers day, to end the policy and allow these families to eunite. Im pleased to it ove to shielda sorry, either one of you. Thank you all for bei here. Its a pleasure to have you. Its important bring issues, also to the rest of the country, so were happy to have member of Congress Sees the injurisdictions that are happening, and i thi were seeing a symptom of issue that is we have ignored in Central America for years and latin america. Hopefully we can continue working on this. The separation of families needs to stop. Thats not the america the world knows and loves. We need to take very important attention to this issue across both the senate and congress, and i appreciate the support from around the country to be here with us. Thank you so much. Sheila jackson lee, congresswoman. Yes, hi,ator meel, thank you very much for bringing us together. Sheila jackson lee, let me quickly saw when you have a mother tell you directly that shes in fear she will never see her child again, and when the United Nations Human Rights Commission indicates that the Trump Administration, youre violating human rights, you know what we are seeing today is, President Trump, cease and desist. You have moving the arc of justice to the heap of despair, and the trash hype of injustice. Thank you very much. Its a pretty griight to see really good young, healthylooking kids with soech fear, so much anxiety, so much wonder of what is next . They dont know where their parents are. They dont know what tomorrow will bring. They dont know if theres a future. What happened in this country is a deliberate decision by the president of the suns is to make it a crime for a mother father and a son and daughter to make a treacherous journey, to knock on the door of freedom and be put in handcuffs. Whats happened. After the parents are in handcuffs, the kids are taken away to parts unknown. That is appalling, and it is unamerican. I want to thank senator merkley for bringing us together. We just visited the Processing Center. We are here to say loudly and clearly that our great country has had a wonderful tradition of welcoming people who are fleeing violence and persecution. This new policy of the Trump Administration, developed by the Trump Administration, by the attorney general of the United States, with the approval of the president of the United States is undermining the values of this country, ripping children from the arms of their mothers in order to try to prevent people from coming to america. This is not what our country stands for. We are here today to call on the Trump Administration, to stop the zerotolerance policy, which makes zero sense. We saw the fear in the eyes of the children wondering when they will ever see their parent ever again. Its a disgrace, its shameful and its unamerican. I leave the Detention Center with more questions than answers. When i asked how long someone would have access to their children, they couldnt give me a direct answer. I asked, 15 minutes . I guy the answer, maybe. How long would someone by in the facilities . No mar than 27 hours. Who have been in there. Unfortunately i leave with more questions and more concerns this policy is not working and its disastrous to the families involved. Several of us have pentagon to the administration. I have toffee directionally to Jeff Sessions. We hope the president will speak with us directly, so lets see if hes willing to meet with us. I spoke with representative gohmert and he he knew the kids were being treated well. They were going better school, better education, a safer environment than they once had on the home. It it may be that more children come across. Lets be very clear. The American Academy of pediatricians have made it they said these irreparable harm, whenple are fleeing persecution abroad, they go through the hurdles of arriving, and when they come hoar and all they have is the fact they are with their parent, holng their hand side by side, and then they are torn away from the parent, they lose all sense of security. This is deep trach for children, a huge, huge infliction on parents as well. There is no way that a family separation policy is good for anyone. The Administration Says they said to send a message for families overseas about how youll be treated if you come to the United States of america. We used to have a message about how youll be treated. Tiffs lady liberty who said give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But now theres a new message if you come here fleeing persian cougs, we will greet you on our shore, handcuff you, treat you as a criminal, take away your children, and you will know when you might possibly see them again. This is absolute ly wrong he we must end this policy. Specifically they will no separate Asylum Seekers and have not. Do you have evidence of what they say expressly unless they suspect the chiles heres what were seeing. Were seeing in International Law and american law, you can seek asylum at a point of entry, its completely legal. What the administration is doing is making it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to come into the port of entry seeking asylum people have been in the nomansland between mexico and the United States for days at a time. That leaves the we will take your children away this is a complete strategy of injuring families seeking asylum to send a message for folks and under no moral code or religious tradition is this acceptable. It has to end. A year ago you were denied action to the facility. Whats changed . I was here two as you saids ago, denied entry in brownsville. It helps when you come with reinforcement e heres the thing. The children inside are being traumatized. It doesnt matter if the floors are slept and the bed sheets tucked in tight. What 345er9s is the kids have been unnecessarily separated. Reporter do you have any communication if theres a unification lets see we do not we told inside here, its just a very short period, they go to a judge and theyre reunified. Thats not what were hearing from the advocate, from the aclu, from anyone else. After people are sentenced for crossesing the border, theyre going into criminal facilities. Were also told how easy unfor teams to be in contact. Yesterday i met with five fathers in oregon, its incredibly difficult to find out where their children are to be able to talk to them. The reality is its very hard for the parents to know. And we were not permitted to speak directly, except in one case, to the people inside. We asked to a mother, and en here two days and doesnt have any information. Think of the barbaric, to separate a child, and then denied information about where the child is. Let me add to the drama and the horror of this. I. C. E. Takes over on these children internally and transfers them to hhs, which may in fact locate the children as far away as new york or chicago and beyond. This parent that we spoke for says shes in fear of never seeing her child, not know where her child is. I see a youngster sitting right here. I would imagine any parent other father, on fathers day, not knowing where your child would be, i can only say this is unmerciful and i would ask senator sessions not to quote scriptures that 2k50e8 with slavery, and realize when you take children ar, you are doing the complete opposite of the values of this nation in terms of democracy and human rights. It must stop now. Were watching a press conference outside a facility. Were seeing members of the house s. Senate, democratic members, speaking for reporters after touring the facility i should say these are legislators from all over the country. The senator from oregon was down there two week ago, tried to get a tour of the facility, and was unable to do that. He says it helps to come with colleagues. What strikes me from what these lawmakers have said is how many questions they do not have answers to. The congressman from wisconsin said how long on average would folks would be there . The responses we got varied from 12 hours to 72. My takeaway from that conversation with reporters, is the fact theres still unanswered questions. Well have much more coverage down here in the n hour. My colleague yasmin is standing by. An unbelievable moment on this sunday afternoon. Bounding together to change a policy that they seess unjust. Senator merkley saying we must end of this policy of family separation, and making a good point here, saying it doesnt matter in the way in which these children are being treated. What matters is they are separate fred their mothers and fathers, and theyre sog that in the Processing Center they just visited near the border there