risks focusing on other facebook partners. -- by expressing an opinion, people don't like, you have i found an injury, that very striking and frankly the truthghtening, if be told, and quite emblematic of he way the left is now responding to any sort of one that d especially trenches on identity grievance course, is ich, of everywhere, and has infected everything. > university of pennsylvania law school professor amy wax on the limits of free expression on college campuses in the united states. sunday night at 8:00 eastern, on q&a.an's

>> homeland security secretary nielsen opened the white house statement on the situation at the u.s. southern border, and the separation of parents and their children. secretary kirstjen nielsen defended the administration zero tolerance policy. this briefing is 35 minutes. >> good afternoon. thank you for your patience. president trump has laid out an immigration reform closes loopholes and provides the necessary resources to secure the board. to fix our broken immigration system. to answer some of your questions invited opic, i've secretary of homeland secure and tary kirstjen nielsen, the border protection commissioner to the podium. s always, i'll be back to take

questions on other news of the day. good afternoon, it's my pleasure to be here because i would love i can help explain giveof what's going on and you some of the facts. there butbeen put out i want to clarify some of these things. julii >> i had the privilege of peaking this morning at the national sheriff's association conference. i thank them. i want to provide you an update n the illegal immigration crisis on the southern border and the effort that the administration is taking to solve this crisis and to stop flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, contraband and crime coming across the board. start with a few numbers and facts. so in the last three months, we one seen illegal immigration our southern border exceed month.people each multiples over each month last

year. year, thereime last has been a 325% increase in children and alien a 435% increase in family units illegally.e country over the last 10 years, there 1,700% increase in asylum claims resulting in in our acklog today country of 600,000 cases. united states has admitted more than half a immigrant egal minors, most of whom today are at large in the united states. at the same time, large criminal organizations such as ms-13, violated our borders and gained a deadly foot hole within the united states. this entire crisis, just to be clear, is not new. occurring and expanding over many decades but currently it's the exclusive loopholes in our

federal immigration laws that revent illegal immigrant minutetors and family members from being detained an removed countries.home in other words, these loopholes create a functionally open pprehension without detention and removal is not border security. we've called on congress to lose these loopholes, i myself have been willing to meet with members willing to meet with me. i'll continue to make myself to ask that they work with us to solve this crisis. yet the voices most loudly enforcement of our current laws are those whose crisis, created this and whose policies perpetrate it. we need to reform three major oopholes, first, we need to amend the 2008 trafficking victims prevention tvpr, horization act, or which is much easier to say. this law encourages families to in the hands of smugglers to bring them alone on

northward.rous trek and make no mistake, we've talked about this before, this dangerous and deadly. second, we need to reform our laws to end the systemic abuse of our asylum system and fraud. right now our asylum system help those who genuinely need it. we're a country of compassion and heart. so that ix this system those who truly need asylum can, in fact, receive it. third, we need to amend the florence settlement agreement nd recent expansions which currently allow -- which would allow for family detention during the removal procession we need congress to fully fund our ability to hold through the ther immigration process. until those loopholes are closed possible asit's not matter of law to detain an remove whole family units who illegally in the united

states. congress and the courts created alone oblem and congress can fix it. until then, we will enforce very law we have on the books to defend the sovereignty and security of the united states. those who criticize the enforcement of our laws have offered only one countermeasure. borders. the quick release of all illegal alien families and the decision our laws.orce this policy would be disastrous. it's primary beneficiaries would be the smuggling organizations themselves and the prime victims who would e children smuggling into the machine. there is a lot of misinformation what dhs is and is not doing adds it relates to families at the border and i record. correct the here are the facts. first, this administration did not create a policy of families at the border. we have a statutory responsibility that we take to protect alien

children from human smuggling, rafficking, and other criminal enforcing our immigration laws. we have a long existing policy, mull. administrations have followed, that outline when we may take protect children. we will separate those who claim o be a parent and child if we cannot determine a familiar or custodial relationship exists. no example, if there is documentation to confirm the claimed relationship between an adult and a child. so if the parent is a national security, public or risk, including when there are criminal charges at issue, and it may not be appropriate to maintain the in detention together. we also separate a parent and hild if the adult is suspected of human trafficking. there have been cases where minors have been used and by unrelated adults

detention,t to avoid and in the last five months we in adults increase and children arriving at the order fraudulently claiming to be a family unit. this is obviously of concern. separation can occur when the parent is charged with human smuggling. under those circumstances, we detain the parent in an appropriate secured detention separate from the child. what has changed is that we no onger exempt entire classes of people who break the law. everyone is subject to prosecution. dhs refers a case against a parent or guardian for criminal legal tion the parent or guardian will be placed into the custody for service pretrial determination pursuant judgeorder by the federal and any accompanied child will be transferred to the department of health and human services and

reclassified as an unaccompanied alien child. hat is in accordance with the tvpra, a law that was passed by following nd the court order, neither of which are actions the trump administration has taken. clear, if an american were to commit a crime anywhere in the united states, they would o to jail and they would be separated from their family. this is not a controversial idea. children in dhs and hss custody are being well taken care of. department of health and human services office of refugee settlement provides meals, medical care and education services to these children. they are provided temporary and they work hard to find a parent, relative or foster home to care for these children. can still communicate with their children through hone calls and videoconferencing. a parent that's released from a sponsor and ask hss to release a child back into their care. urther, these minors can still apply for asylum and other

protections under u.s. if eligible.aw we take allegations of mistreatment seriously, an i stress this point. we investigate, we hold those and if it when should occur. we have some of the highest detention standards in the country. claiming these children and their parents are treated not true, and completely disrespects the hard working men and women at the of refugee resettlement. hird, parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals. llegal entry is a crime as determined by congress. by entering our country llegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk. fourth, cbp and ice officers are properly trained to care for custody.n their dhs and hss treats all individuals in its custody with and respect and complies

with all laws and policy. reiterates ces and the need to consider the best interest of the children and andates adherence to establish protocols to protect at risk populations, to include for the transport and treatment of minors in dhs and custody. additionally, all u.s. border patrol personnel on the are bilingual.r every last one of them. they are directed to clearly process to relevant apprehended individuals and provide detainees with written in both spanish and english, that lays out the rocess and appropriate phone numbers to contact. nd finally, dhs is not separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry. an adult enters at a petr of entry and claims asylum, they face prosecution for illegal entry. they have not committed a crime coming to the port of entry.

as i mentioned, dhs does have a protect minorsto and in that case as well, we will only separate the family if we can't determine there is a family relationship. if the child may be at rest we can the parent or illegal guardian, or if the parent or legal guardian is referred for prosecution. duty to protect the american people and it's one that i take very seriously. bottom line. dhs is no longer ignoring the law. as theyforcing the laws exist on the books. as long as illegal entry remains will notl offense, dhs look the other way. hs will faithfully execute the laws enacted by congress as e're sworn to do, as i said earlier today, surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of when the body who makes the laws instead of hanging them, tells the enforcement body not to enforce the law. ask this week to

so we can secure our borders and ideas.our humanitarian these two missions should not be pitted against each other. loopholes we can accomplish both. before i take questions, i just in your sk that reporting, please consider the en and women of dhs who are dedicated law enforcement officers and who often put their lives at risk. let's remember their sacrifice and commitment to this country. nd with that i'll take some questions. yes. >> secretary kirstjen nielsen, dhs is notalked about, longer ignoring the law, you're calling on congress to complaining the law. yes. >> that's the big message here. members of congress on the democratic side say you're using children as a leverage to try to get them to take legislative action. that?do you say to >> i say this is a very cowardly response. it's clearly within their power o make the laws an change the laws. they should do so. >> yes. photos of seen the

children in cages? have you heard the audio clip of these children wailing that just came out today? >> i have not seen -- that's something that came out today been to detention centers, and again, i would reference you to our standards, would reference you to the care provided not just by the department of homeland security but by the department of health human services when they get to hss. >> is that what you want out there? of this age i want country is an immigration system that secures our borders and up humanitarian ideals. congress needs to fix it. you a chance ive to respond to laura bush, she cruel, she supports an application of the law. even the current first lady, has said we should be a nation of laws, we should do so with heart. you want toanything tell them? do you believe they are misunderstanding the situation or do you believe there is any of this policy which as you've outlined other administrations have done but it in a way that's

ore intense and creates the separation issue. >> my response would be is ttention to this matter is important. it's a very serious issue that's resulted, after years and years of congress not taking action. i would thank them both for their comments. i would thank them both for concerns. i share their concerns but congress is the one that needs to fix this. by your licy is not definition in any way cruel? >> it's not a policy. at dhs is to do what to e sworn to do which is enforce the law. >> to follow up on that question, former first lady laura bush compared to this one of the ernment, darkest days of our history. do you believe the affect of the law, but ot the affect on separation children from families is moral, is ethical, is american?

>> what i believe is that we should exercise our democratic and fix the ricans problem. it's a this, how is the specifically not child abuse for these children? vaste vast majority, vast ofority who are in the care hhs, were sent here alone by their parents. that's when they were separated. somehow we have conflated everything but they are two separate issues. in000 of those currently custody were sent by their parents with strangers to undertake a completely dangerous and deadly travel alone. them, we haver high standards, we give them meals, we give them medical

care. -- andre videos and dvds dvds. i have visited them by myself. for the hundreds we have seen, are there any examples of .hild abuse not the ones who were since you are the parents blessing but the ones who were taken from their parents? dealam not any position to with hearsay stories. if they have that information, i asked they provide that information. i look into this. we don't want any situation where a child is not completely adequately taken care of. where are the girls? >> i don't know, i'm not

familiar with those particular images. in dhs care.ren most of the children after 72 hours are transported to hhs. are beingsaying they well caret four. how can you make that claim if you don't know where they are? majorityying the vast of the are held by health and human services and we transfer them after 72 hours. let's find out from hhs. your department, this has been aired all over national television. >> i will look into that. you continue to insist that

this is something that congress can change any of this is something that was enacted after the attorney general announced a zero-tolerance policy. this never happened before that. true.t's not the last administration, the obama administration, the bush administration all separated families. they did less than ours but they absolutely did this. they did not separate kids at this rate from their parents. this is something new. why doesn't the president pick up the phone and change the policy? he says he hates it. >> i think what the president is trying to do is find a long-term fix. congress could fix this tomorrow. president trump has had a lot to say over the last few days about immigration.

he's offered no compassion to the family separated at the border. do you know why this is? why won't he relax the policy until congress reaches that long-term fix? tohe has been attempting work with congress since he has been in office. he has made it very clear we will enforce the laws of the united states as long as this a ministry should is here. as part of that, he has continuously reached out to congress to fix this and what i think you have seen in the last few days is that. >> does he feel in the compassion for the families that have been separated? he's talking about the parents

being criminals, he is blame it on democrats. that hes said in tweets would like congress to act to in the underline laws that require the separation. >> it seems like a couple of days ago both the president and the attorney general said this is not demonstrations policy but it seems like today that the message is a little different. policy.d this is our to get it right. which of those is the most precise way to describe how the administration feels and given the blowback by number of republicans as well as democrats, are you considering rethinking this based on feedback or is it the administration's position going forward? >> the laws prohibit us from detaining families monday go

through prosecution for illegally entering the border and while they go through prosecution for immigration proceedings. if we close the loopholes, we can put the family's which is what they did in the last minister asian until a court ruled that we can no longer do that. we have toys, release both unaccompanied children and accompany children. we cannot detain families together. you said you want congress to act. but you also said that you want to make this work. are these kids being used as pawns? democrats say this is at your discretion and there is no law that this white house must separatebut you also said that t to make this work. president -- parents from children. being used ase pawns by the smugglers and traffickers.

let's pause to think about this statistic. there's a 314 percent increase with adults showing up with kids that are not a family unit. those are traffickers, smugglers, ms 13, criminals, abusers. closing that loophole will enable us to detain families together throughout the preceding as they have done in previous administration's. are the children being used as pawns, yes or no? >> the children are not being used as upon. we are trying to protect the children is why i'm asking congress to act. what we are seeing, the pictures, the audio, the stories , are they unintended consequence of the administration's decisions are

not unintended consequence? i think they reflect the focus of those who post such pictures and narrative. the narratives we don't see are the narratives of the crime, the opioids, these strong -- the smugglers, people killed by gang members. american children who are recruited and then taste and beaten. we don't have a balanced view of what happening to what is happening at the border is the border is being overrun by those who have no right to cross it. if you areefore, seeking asylum, go to a port of entry. you do not need to break the law of the united states to seek asylum. families are being separated at ports of entry. >> that is incorrect. we do, based on the high

standards we have, if we do not have enough personnel on staff, if we do not have enough caretakers, can we tell people that come to the border that they need to come back. we are not turning them away, we are same you in the right way but right now we do not have the resources of this particular moment in time. >> are you intending for this to play out as it is plain out? are you intending for parents to be separated from their children? are you intending to send a message? i find that offensive. why would i create a policy that purposely does that? works --hat it that's not the question you asked me. the answer is, it's a law passed by the united states congress.

law,r than fixing the congress is asking those of us who enforce the law to turn our not enforce law and the law. it's not an answer. the answer is to fix the law. >> will the administration refrain from its current policy if congress passes something close to what you want or they continue to separate children from their parents until the president gets exactly what he wants? if congress closes loopholes, then they close the loopholes. families will stay together throughout the proceedings. do you believe the policy is a deterrent? >> thank you, secretary nielsen. i will jump right in ago two other questions, news of the day. steve. talk into north korean leader

kim yesterday, do note that happened? the president had spoken to a number of officials that were working on details following the north korean summit and we will keep you posted on those details. there's a report that the united states and south korea have agreed to suspend joint military drills in august. is that real? >> once the last part of the question? they have agreed to suspend joint military drills in august. >> those conversations are ongoing of the -- ongoing at this point and as long as north koreans continue to act in good faith, we expect those things to be on pause.

be on pause. >> has the presence discuss the family some of -- separation policy with the first lady in light of her statement? does he plan to come out and address the american people? >> the president did take a number of questions as i'm sure you're are all aware on friday in which what he actually very closely mirrored what the first lady said. he said he hates seeing this and , democrats inress congress to work with him and fix the problem. the president is in trying to kick the can down the road, he's trying to get real solutions and fix the problem. take your question. >> why did you decide to have secretary nielsen answer questions instead of you? >> i thought it was important for the secretary, one of the primary experts on the process, too, here and have a chance to

speak to you. leaders miss it minister asian. i'm standing here in front of you. >> will the president signed a bill that does not include border funding if it did indeed close the loophole secretary nielsen talked about? does he require an entire bill with that the $5 billion? -- the $25 billion? >> we have laid out what we would like to see on a number of occasions. the president supports both of pieces of legislation that we have voiced support for the details. the president doesn't want a band-aid put on this. he's tired of administrations claiming they want to help the system and then kicking the can down the road. he wants to fix the problems and

secure our borders. it's not just something we can tinker with. the president wants to fix the system and we are committed to doing that and we hope congress will do their part. stop playinge to games and get him the table and get real. on the ig report in the , thengs in congress present tweeted several times today and yesterday that the molar investigation continues to be a witchhunt. the ig report shows no evidence of collusion but his own fbi director said that mueller is not a witchhunt and that the report doesn't speak to the special counsel's investigation. i is there that disconnect between what the president believes and another branch of his minister asian does? does?his administration

>> the present has been clear and he strongly feels this has been a witchhunt. he also said the ig report clearly calls into question the credibility of james comey and many other senior investigators. the claims validates he is made repeatedly. >> the governor of massachusetts who is a republican today reversed course and order the national guard not to send assets or personnel to the southwest border because he said it's resulted in the inhumane treatment of children. would you comment on that and have you seen any other impact on border operations? >> i haven't seen as common specifically but i would tell him that he should call every member of congress, particularly those in his own state and asked them to physics -- to fix the law. it is only one body that gets to create legislation is congress. our job is to enforce it and

would like to see congress fix it. >> but was the president's reaction to laura bush's piece in the washington post? i didn't speak directly with him about that but i'm happy to address the concerns and ecowas secretary nielsen said. we share the concerns. the president said he doesn't like this process. once again, it is congress's job to change the law. we are calling on them to do that. signed into effect in 2008 under her husband's leadership, not under this administration. not responsible for creating this problem, we inherited it, but we are first administration trying to fix it. >> i have here in my hand the figures from the german it ministry of the interior that says crime has gone down 5.1% in

germany and is at the lowest rate in a quarter century in germany. a crime down 2.4%, burglary down 23%. test down 11.8%. where did the president get the statement that crime was way up in germany under the merkel plan? not aware of the report that you are referencing. >> i read the first lady statement that was put out and she seems very troubled by the zero tolerance policy. between any daylight the president and the first lady on this issue? >> i think it made it abundantly clear that the daylight exists between democrats in congress.

their ability to change this law. the president himself said he doesn't -- he hates the process and that's why he has asked for it to be fixed. ignoring thee keep fact that the president is in the one who creates the law but it is congress's job to great the law and the president has already laid out and gladly stated a number of times publicly that he would sign legislation that fixes these loopholes and fixes our immigration system. i think people should be begging and begging and asking congress to join with the president instead of fighting him and constantly criticizing him. why are they offering solutions. you have nancy pelosi and chuck sumer come out and complain and attack because they have no message and no solution. we would like to see them work with us to put a solution in place. besides the people you

mentioned, there's a number of republicans and some very prominent members of some of the present space. you know if the president has heard from those members such as the evangelicals in particular? have they had discussions with the president about this particular policy? i think in the evangelical or any church for that matter that feel strongly, they should open up their doors and help facilitate some of these individuals. i think that is their calling it is the mission of the church and they should sell that. if they want to fix the immigration system, it should call their members of congress. there is some confusion about this space force that the president announced. the actually signed anything?

does he believe this could be done without the approval of congress? the airports appears opposed to it. where is this coming from outside of the president? --we are in the digging beginning stages of it. were going to work with the department of defense and other parties. if the administration is not using the children as ponds, then why not just have congress passed legislation that narrowly deals with this family separation issue and sign it and then deal with the other issues? >> you want to fix the entire system. we don't just want to tinker with it. the president is tired of watching people kick it down the road. you would like to see all these things change but were doing with this particular situation right now. >> we are dealing with a number

of situations. we have people flooding over the borders. the president wants people to come to this country but wants people to come legally enter the right process. that's what we're asking. there have been a number of individuals that are permanently separated from their families due to the illegal aliens that have come across this border and murdered and killed american citizens. the outrage over that such a weight -- separation? this is a broken system. ignoring a rule doesn't fix it. i will take one last question. secretary pompeo came out today and said that in exchange for denuclearization on the korean peninsula that the united states has committed to updating the armistice existence -- agreement already in place. can you confirm that the president made this commitment and what doesn't mean?

the future of u.s. forces on the korean peninsula in question? we are finalizing the details of what the process will look like. we have confirmed secretary pompeo's comments and for you to the state department. thanks so much. >> as the president talked to franklin graham about the separation of children and their parents? >> c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. morning, tuesday supreme court correspondent reviews the supreme court's actions on key partisan gerrymandering cases.

judicial watch is chris farrell report on the email investigation. and the public health and locations of children being separated from their families due to the trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal live tuesday morning. tuesday on the c-span networks, 10:00 a.m. on sees then, the senate judiciary committee investigates the visa program that allows immigrant investors to become permanent residents. the house returns for general speeches and they take up up your bills. on c-span two, the senate works on a federal spending package. militarylative branch, construction, and veterans affairs. on c-span three a joint hearing with the house oversight and

judiciary committees to hear testimony. a 2:30 p.m., the senate commerce committee was a hearing on data privacy risks focusing on cambridge analytical and other facebook partners. >> this weekend on "afterwards," maryland congressman john delaney offices vision for america. his vision for america. he is interviewed by donna brazil. a member ofbeen congress since 2013 and have an opportunity to introduce legislation and work with other congresspeople but you have

called to an end of partisanship. what do you mean? >> i think a president or any other elected leader in this country should effectively represent everyone. whether they voted for them or not. they should always take a pledge never to divide us. that doesn't mean they don't go out there and say why they should vote for me or via the person or why my ideas are better in the other person's ideas are why the future i'm envisioning is what the other person is but taking it to the step where you're actually cultivating a spirit of division is, i think, one of the things going on in this country right now that is really insidious. i think if you have the privilege of serving i feel like i do, in addition to swearing to defend and protect the constitution, we really should pledge the american people that we are not going to say things godivide us, we are going to out of our way to try to unify the country. the country is inherently stronger when we are unified.

>> watch it sunday night at 9:00 eastern on book tv. the justice department's inspector general, michael horvitz, testified on the reports documenting how the justice department fbi and other investigations ahead of the 2016 elections. his hearing is three hours and 15 minutes. than three hours. >> welcome, everybody. today, the committee will examine the justice department inspector general report on decisions regarding the 2016