let s remember their sacrifice and commitment to this country. with that, i will take some questions. reporter: secretary nielsen nielsen, you said dhs is no longer ignoring a lot. you are calling on congress to change the laws. that s the big message. members of congress on the democratic side say you are using children as a lever to try to get them to take legislative action. what do you say? i say that is a cowardly response. it is clearly within their power to make the laws and change the laws. they should do so. reporter: have you seen the photos of children in cages? have you heard the audio clips of these children wailing? i have not seen something that came out today but i ve been to detention centers. i would reference you to our standards. i would reference you to the care provided not just by the department of homeland security but by the department of health and human services.
the president signed a bill they did not include border funding if it closed this loophole? would he sign that specific bill or does he require an entire bill with the $25 billion? we have laid out what we would like to scan a number of different occasions. there are currently two bills in process in the house. the president supports both of those pieces of legislation that we have voiced support for. the president doesn t just want to see a band-aid put on it. he wants us to see a fix to the immigration administration he wants to secure the border. we have to fix the entire system and he is committed to doing that. we have laid out what we want to see in legislation. the president wants to fix the system and we are committed to doing that we hope congress will do their part.
theft down 11.8%. where did the president get the statement that crime was way up in germany under the angela merkel plan for admitting refugees? i m not aware of the report you are referencing. i m happy to check into it. i haven t seen it but i would be happy to check into it. reporter: i read the first lady s statement put out and she seems troubled by this zero tolerance policy. is there any daylight between the president and first lady on this? i think we have made it abundantly clear that the daylight exists between democrats in congress and their ability to change this law. the president himself said he doesn t he hates these images. he hates this process and that s why he s asked for it to be fixed. we keep ignoring the fact that
he has been attempting to work with congress since he s been in office. he s made it very clear that we will enforce the laws of the united states as long as this administration is here. as part of that, he is continually reached out to congress to fix it. i think what you have seen them doing the last few days as that. continue to tell congress, please work with us. the system is broken. the only people that benefit from the system right now are the smugglers, traffickers, those who are peddling drugs, and terrorists. let s fix the system. reporter: does he feel any compassion for the families being separated? he has talked about the parents being possible criminals. he has blamed it on democrats. he has offered no words of compassion. i think he has said intimates that he would like congress to act to end the underlying laws that require the separation. reporter: seems like a couple days ago the main posture
care of you in the right way. right now we do not have the resources at this particular moment in time. come back. [all speaking] reporter: are you intending for this to play out as it s playing out? are you intending for parents to be separated from their children? are you intending to send a message? i find that offensive. no. why when i create a policy that purposely does that? reporter: perhaps as a deterrent. no. the way it works that s not the question you asked me. but the answer is its a law passed by the united states congress. rather than fixing the law, congress is asking those of us to enforce the law to turn our backs on the law and not enforce the law. it s not an answer. the answer is to fix the laws.