of our way to unify the country. the country is apparently stronger when we are unified. >> watch sunday night on c-span2's book tv. >> homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen opened the white house reefing with a situation on the statement that the u.s. southern border and the childrenn of migrant and their parents. this briefing is 45 minutes. >> good afternoon. thank you for your patience. as you know, president trump has laid out an immigration reform proposal that closes loopholes and provides forces necessary to close the border. congress needs to fix our broken

immigration system. to answer some of your questions, we've invited others to the podium. i will be back up afterwards to take questions. afternoon's. it is my pleasure to be her. i would like to see if i can help explain some of what is going on and give you the facts. there has been a lot put out there and i hope we can clarify some things today. i want to start by thanking the sheriffs of the united states. i spoke with them this morning at the national sheriffs association conference. do tok them for all they protect our communities. i want to provide you with an up date on the efforts the administration is taking to solve the crisis and stop the

flood of illegal immigrants, contraband, and crime coming across the border. months we'veew seen illegal immigration on our southern border exceed 50,000 people each month, a multiple over last year. there has been a 325% increase in unaccompanied alien children and increase in the number of family units entering the country illegally. there has been an increase in asylum claims. a 600,000 caseback load. -- most of whom today are at large in the united states. large criminal organizations our ms-13 have violated

borders and gained a deadly foothold in the united states. this crisis is not new. it has been occurring over many decades but currently it is the exclusive product of loopholes and federal laws that prevent migrant family members from being detained and remove to their home country. opencreate functionally border. without ion detention and removal is not border security. we've called on congress to close these loopholes, i myself have been willing to meet with members willing to meet with me. i'll continue to make myself available to ask that they work with us to solve this crisis. yet the voices most loudly criticizing the enforcement of our current laws are those whose policies created this crisis, and whose policies perpetrate it. we need to reform three major loopholes, first, we need to

amend the 2008 trafficking victims prevention re-authorization act, or tvpr, which is much easier to say. this law encourages families to put children in the hands of smugglers to bring them alone on this dangerous trek northward. and make no mistake, we've talked about this before, this trek is dangerous and deadly. second, we need to reform our asylum laws to end the systemic abuse of our asylum system and stop fraud. right now our asylum system fails to help those who genuinely need it. we're a country of compassion and heart. we must fix this system so that those who truly need asylum can, in fact, receive it. third, we need to amend the settlement agreement and recent expansions which would allow for family detention during the removal procession and we need congress to fully fund our ability to hold families together through the

immigration process. until those loopholes are closed by congress it's not possible as matter of law to detain an remove whole family units who arrive illegally in the united states. congress and the courts created this problem and congress alone can fix it. until then, we will enforce every 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. open borders. the quick release of all illegal alien families and the decision not to enforce our laws. this policy would be disastrous. it's primary beneficiaries would be the smuggling organizations themselves and the prime victims would be the children who would be plunged into the smuggling machine. there is a lot of misinformation about what dhs is and is not doing adds it relates to families at the border and i want to correct the record. here are the facts.

first, this administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border. we have a statutory responsibility that we take seriously to protect alien children from human smuggling, trafficking, and other criminal actions, while enforcing our immigration laws. we have a long existing policy, administrations have followed, that outline when we may take action to protect children. we will separate those who claim to be a parent and child if we cannot determine a familiar or custodial relationship exists. for example, if there is no documentation to confirm the claimed relationship between an adult and a child. we do so if the parent is a national security, public or safety risk, including when there are criminal charges at issue, and it may not be appropriate to maintain the family in detention together. we also separate a parent and child if the adult is suspected of human trafficking. there have been cases where

minors have been used and trafficked by unrelated adults in an effort to avoid detention, and in the last five months we have a 314% increase in adults and children arriving at the border fraudulently claiming to be a family unit. this is obviously of concern. and separation can occur when the parent is charged with human smuggling. under those circumstances, we would detain the parent in an appropriate secured detention facility separate from the child. what has changed is that we no longer exempt entire classes of people who break the law. everyone is subject to prosecution. when dhs refers a case against a parent or guardian for criminal prosecution the parent or legal guardian will be placed into the u.s. marshal service custody for pretrial determination pursuant to an order by the federal judge and any accompanied child will be transferred to the department

of health and human services and reclassified as an unaccompanied alien child. that is in accordance with the tvpra, a law that was passed by congress, and the following court order, neither of which are actions the trump administration has taken. let's be clear, if an american were to commit a crime anywhere in the united states, they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family. this is not a controversial idea. second, children in dhs and hss custody are being well taken care of. the department of health and human services office of refugee resettlement provides meals, medical care and education allege services to these children. they are provided temporary shelter and hhs works hard to find a parent, relative or foster home to care for these children. parents can still communicate with their children through

phone calls and videoconferencing. a parent that's released from custody can be a sponsor and ask hss to release a child back into their care. further, these minors can still apply for asylum and other protections under u.s. immigration law if eligible. we take allegations of mistreatment seriously, and i want to stress this point. we investigate, we hold those accountable when and if it should occur. we have some of the highest detention standards in the country. claiming these children and their parents are treated inhumanely is not true, and completely disrespects the hard working men and women at the office of refugee resettlement. third, parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals. illegal entry is a crime as determined by congress. by entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk. fourth, cbp and ice officers are properly trained to care for minors in their custody. dhs and hss treats all

individuals in its custody with dignity and respect and complies with all laws and policy. this reinforces and reiterates the need to consider the best interest of the children and mandates adherence to establish protocols to protect at risk populations, to include standards for the transport and treatment of minors in dhs and hss custody. additionally, all u.s. border patrol personnel on the southwest border are bilingual. every last one of them. they are directed to clearly explain the relevant process to apprehended individuals and provide detainees with written documentation in both spanish and english, that lays out the process and appropriate phone numbers to contact. and finally, dhs is not separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry. if an adult enters at a port of entry and claims asylum, they will not face prosecution for illegal entry.

they have not committed a crime by coming to the port of entry. as i mentioned, dhs does have a responsibility to protect minors 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. we have a duty to protect the american people and it's one that i take very seriously. here is the bottom line. dhs is no longer ignoring the law. we're enforcing the laws as they exist on the books. as long as illegal entry remains a criminal offense, dhs will not look the other way. dhs will faithfully execute the laws enacted by congress as we're sworn to do, as i said earlier today, surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of democracy when the body who makes the laws instead of changing them, tells the enforcement body not to enforce the law.

i ask congress to ask this week -- to act this week so we can secure our borders and uphold our humanitarian ideas. these two missions should not be pitted against each other. if we close the loopholes we can accomplish both. before i take questions, i just want to ask that in your reporting, please consider the men 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. and with that i'll take some questions. yes. >> secretary kirstjen nielsen, what you talked about, dhs is no longer ignoring the law, you're calling on congress to change 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. what do you say to that? >> i say this is a very cowardly response. it's clearly within their power to make the laws an change the laws. they should do so. >> yes. >> have you seen the photos of 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 but i've been to detention centers, and again, 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 when they get to hss. >> is that the image of this country that you want out there? >> the image i want of this country is an immigration system that secures our borders and up holds our humanitarian ideals. congress needs to fix it. >> i want to give you a chance to respond to laura bush, she said this is cruel, she supports an application of the law. even the current first lady, melania trump has said we should be a nation of laws, we should do so with heart.

do you have anything you want to tell them? do you believe they are misunderstanding the situation or do you believe there is any component of this policy which as you've outlined other administrations have done but you're using it in a way that's more intense and creates the separation issue. >> my response would be is calling attention to this matter is important. it's a very serious issue that's resulted, after years and years of congress not taking action. so i would thank them both for their comments. i would thank them both for their concerns. i share their concerns but congress is the one that needs to fix this. >> the policy is not by your definition in any way cruel? >> it's not a policy. our policy at dhs is to do what we're sworn to do which is to enforce the law. >> to follow up on that question, former first lady laura bush compared to this japanese internment, one of the darkest days of our history. do you believe the affect of this policy, not the law, but the affect on separation children from families is moral,

is ethical, is american? >> what i believe is that we should exercise our democratic rights as americans and fix the problem. it's a problem. let's fix it. >> how is this not child abuse? >> which, be more specific, please, enforcing the law? -- images >> the cages that you were talking about and the sounds that we've seen from these big box stores, wal-marts and other stores, when you see this, how is this not specifically child abuse, where these innocent children, who are indeed being separated from their parents. >> so, let me be clear on a couple of other things, the vast majority, vast, vast majority of children who are were sent here with their parents. conflated have

everything but they are two separate issues. 10,000 of those currently in custody were sent by their parents with strangers to undertake a completely dangerous and deadly travel alone. we now care for them, we have high standards, we give them meals, we give them medical care. there are videos and tv's. i have visited them by myself. >> for the hundreds we have seen, are there any examples of child abuse. not the ones who were since you are the parents blessing but the ones who were taken from their parents? >> i am not any position to deal with hearsay stories. if someone has a specific allegation i asked that they provide that information to the department of homeland security, we will look into it. of course, we do not want any

situation where a child is not completely adequately taking care of. >> where are the girls? where are the young toddlers? do you know where the young girls or toddlers are? >> i don't know, i'm not familiar with those particular images. we have children in dhs care. most of the children after 72 hours are transported to hhs. >> you're saying they are being well caret four. -- well cared for, how can you make that claim if you don't know where they are. >> i'm saying the vast majority 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.

throughout the day. the kids were being held in cages. >> i will look into that. i'm not aware that there is another picture. >> 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. >> that's not true. the last administration, the obama administration, the bush administration all separated families. they absolutely did. they did less than ours but they absolutely did this. this is not new. they separated families. rate from their families 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? so these families can be reunited? >> he has been attempting to 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 administration 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. the only people that benefit asm the system right now smugglers, traffickers, those

peddling drugs, it and terrorists. so let's fix the system. >> this you feel any compassion for the families that have been separated? he's talking about the parents being criminals, he is blame it on democrats. >> he has said in tweets that he 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 the administrations holocene. but it seems like the message today is a little bit different. you are saying, this is our policy. -- i wantbe me sure to make sure we get it right. which is the most resize way to describe how your administration

feels. or you considering rethinking this or is this 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 keep the families together which is what they did in the last administration until a court ruled we can no longer do that. after 20 days, we have to release both unaccompanied children and accompanied children. we cannot detain families together. >> you said you want congress to act. you said you want to close loopholes, 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 separate parents from children. >> the kids are being used as 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 pawn.s a

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 an intended consequence of the administration's decisions or 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, 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. as i said before, if you are 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 have multiple missions. what we do is, 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 saying we want to take care of you in the right way but right now we do not have the resources at this articular moment in time. come back. >> 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. no. because why would i create a

policy that purposely does that? no, the way that it works -- that's not the question you asked me. the answer is, it's a law passed by the united states congress. rather than fixing the law, congress is asking those of us who 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 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, many of which are closed in the two bills we hope are taken up this week by the house, then they close the loopholes. the families will stay together throughout the proceedings. thank you.

>> 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. >> the president said he would talk to the 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. i am not aware of a specific call between the two leaders had this time. >> there's a report that the united states and south korea have agreed to suspend joint military drills in august. is that real? are you aware of this?

>> those conversations are ongoing at this point and as long as north koreans continue to act in good faith, we expect those things to be on pause. >> has the president discussed separation policy with the first lady in light of her statement? does he plan to come out and address the american people? sec. sanders: 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 called on congress, democrats in 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. i will 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. for you to be able to ask questions directly of for and the leaders in this administration. but i am standing here in front of you. >> will the president signed a bill that does not include border funding if it did include closing the loophole secretary nielsen talked about? does he require an entire bill with 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 wants us to actually fix our immigration system. he is tired of administrations claiming they want to help the system and then just kicking the can down the road. 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. democrats have to stop playing games and get him the table and get real. >> on the ig report in the hearings in congress, the present tweeted several times today and yesterday that the

mueller investigation continues to be a witchhunt. he said 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. why is there such a disconnect between what the president believes it and do another branch of his administration? the president has been clear that 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. that report validates the claims 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?

sec. sanders: 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. >> what was the president's reaction to laura bush's piece in the washington post? sec. sanders: 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. this law was signed into effect in 2008 under her husband's leadership, not under this administration. we are 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 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. violent crime down 2.4%, burglary down 23%. 3.8%.down where did the president get the statement that crime was way up in germany under the merkel plan? sec. sanders: i'm 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. is there any daylight between the president and the first lady on this issue? sec. sanders: 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 hates the process and that's why he has asked for it to be fixed. i feel like we keep ignoring the 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 doors andg down the

asking congress to join with the president instead of fighting him and constantly criticizing him. why aren't 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 evangelical faith. do 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? the sanders: i think

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 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 pawns, 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. sanders: 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. where's the outrage over that 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 agreement already in place. can you confirm that the president made this commitment and what does it mean? does it put 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. >> it has the president talked to franklin graham about the separation of children and their parents? washingtonc-span's

journal, live the every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, reviewing the supreme court actions on key gerrymandering cases. then, discussing the department of justice inspector general report on the hillary clinton email investigation and talking about the public health applications of children being separated from their families due to the trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy. this morning on washington journal, join the discussion. >> tuesday at 10:00 a.m., the senate judiciary committee visats -- investigates the program that allows investors to become permanent residents. on c-span2, the