those who come alone are known as unaccompanied children. first i want to reiterate something i said a numbe i've sf times over the past few weeks and that is i oppose the policy of separating children from their i parents. i think it is counter to our american values. as we will talk about this afternoon, it's also inconsistent with the infrastructure we have in place to be able to deal with it. i was pleased to see the administration agree we should keep families apprehended at the border together as the executive order of the president issued to that effect yesterday. i cosponsored legislation on this issue that has now been cosponsored by 32 of my colleagues i'm told, so it has the support of almost one third of the chamber which would in effect take the executive order and put that into law butha also make other changes necessary to ensure we can have a sustainable policy with regards to children coming across the border. i believe we can have strong border security without separating families at the border. i believe we can enforce the

we are talking about unaccompanied children, five and 6-year-old kids.requires that the department of homeland security place that child with hhs within 48 hours. a deportation proceeding is commenced and the child has a right through a lawyer to assert a claim for asylum. >> chris: secretary johnson, the fact is we talk all about the children who are separated from their families. of the 12,000 children in the system, 2,000 our children separated from families. 10,000 are unaccompanied minors. perhaps unintended consequence of this amendment is that unaccompanied minors have flooded the area, a lot of them brought by coyote smugglers into the country. >> secretary johnson: even if that law did not exist, it would not be simply a matter of expediting the removal of an unaccompanied child. there are certain due process rights that they have anyway and when we repatriate somebody, and the trump administration knows this, when you repatriate somebody to central america, central america has to agree to take them back. you have to put them on planes. it's a v

when the children are separated from the parents, they are reclassified as unaccompanied migrant. we have a whole system for dealing with child migrants that includes transferring them to the custody of the office of resettlement. which is obligated for trying to find the children sponsors throughout the united states. parent, families, or close family friends. if they can't come of the children continue to be held in our facilities. in the meantime, these children are placed into our long-term deportation proceedings. and our system is quite backed up. back logged with over 700,000 cases. these children are set up in this system. there is no system for reunifying the parents. once the parents get out of criminal prosecution they are placed in removal proceedings. we have not seen anything coming out of the administration just yet. that would allow for these parents to be reunified with her children. host: she will be with us until 9:00 and take your questions about immigration. them being separated from families. if you want to ask her questions (202) 748-8001 for republicans. tw

all of them are unaccompanied. there are also some infants who are housed here with their mothers. were born here. >> if two girls -- two teen girls came, they will share a room. when mommy and me comes, we give them a room for the two of them. >> reporter: cnn has reported in recent days on abuse and neglect and poor conditions in detention facilities faced by many immigrant children. officials at this group home want to show another side of that story. a place that takes pride in caring for the most vulnerable and traumatized of the recent immigrants. virginia senator kim cane was coming out of the facility as we entered. >> this is a high quality program. >> these are for domestic and immigrant children. >> reporter: there are ten spacious houses on the complex. they have a library. a soccer field and a gym. the immigrant children are housed and schooled here. but are kept separate from american children. the american children here are troubled, many have criminal backgrounds and behavioral problems. the work here for staff members is challenging, tough and emotionally exhaustin

>> in the family units and unaccompanied children. >> what were the actual numbers? >> i can get that to you. i probably have it here. about 240,000 apprehensions so far this year. about a third of those would be people not from mexico who are unaccompanied children or part of a family unit. >> and we talked about 1750% increase. was that fiscal year '08 to '16? did i get that correct? >> there are two increases that about 1750%. one was in the number of pending asylum cases over the past five years. >> not one year, five years. >> yes. >> and the other one was the number of -- >> what were the actual numbers on that? >> so i have that. let's see. >> while you are getting that to me, i have another question. talking about cartels, when you talking about these folks getting asylum. are these cartels sending them over with drugs, when they get to the border these folks coming looking for refugee status, are they coming in with drugs? so they say i want asylum, by the way, they have a backpack full of drugs, is that what happened? >> i'm not sure we see that very often.

the vast majority of those children still tend to be the unaccompanied minors. we have had a big surge in families bringing children or some adults bringing children with them. >> laura: one of the shelters not too far from the border has 90% of the kids who are unaccompanied minors. 10% were separated from their families. just so my viewers understand this, general sessions what happens when a family unit you see them all on the bridges which i think is absurd that they stay on the bridges near the ports of entry near san diego. now, when they get processed in it is slow. they get processed in and if a woman says this is my child or two children, then what happens? are they separated if they claim asylum, saying i want to claim asylum? what happens to the mother of the children at that point? >> if they enter the country at a port of entry and there are many of those along the border they are not violating the law. the mother or father in that circumstance would not be prosecuted in the families are staying together. presumably they are claiming asylum and they

they're children that have come unaccompanied across the border.ard a lot about this, actually, during the obama administration and he received lots of criticism for how he dealt with that crisis a couple years ago. yes, it's important that she's taking the press through. it's important that she's drawing attention to this. that said, that briefing was a little bit like everything is fine. the kids come in here, they're a little upset and then they relax, i think is what one of the officials there said. we've read accounts that that is not the case, especially with these young children who come in and do not calm down, are cat catatonic. there could be permanent damage to what has already occurred with them. forgive me for looking at it with a bit of a skeptical eye. >> and these are 60 children but the age range is 5 to 17. so this is not the tender age facility of one of themve been hearing about and talking so much about. these are kids, presumably, who can community unlike some of the babies who can't and just want to be held and be held by the

just like under the obama administration in 2014, we've seen a surge of unaccompanied children and families coming across our southern border during the spring and summer months. overwhelmingly these families and these children are coming from central america, in other words, from countries that are not adjacent to or contiguous with the united states. some have presented themselves lawfully at ports of entry, but others have tried to enter illegally. for example, if you are attempting to claim asylum, you can show up at one of our bridg bridges or ports of entry and claim asylum without breaking the law. but if you enter the country between the ports of entry, through the wild wild west i will call it of the texas frontier and border region, you enter the country illegally. and then you can claim asylum, but you still enter the country illegally, so your asylum claim has to be considered in that context. the trump administration has made a decision to enforce all of our laws, by prosecuting adults in criminal court when they are apprehended crossing our borders illegally. i support that ap

in 2014, a number of unaccompanied alien children -- the number of unaccompanied alien children increased exponentially and reached crisis levels. remained steadily above 300,000 apprehension fathers 2014 to present. during a visit by the honduran first lady was asked if honduras wanted their children back and without hesitation she responded that they did. so a plane load of women and children were sent back to honduras and resulted -- an immediate reduction in the attempted crossings of unaccompanied alien children. however, because there was no follow-on enforcement actions, the numbers begin began to increase, reaching above 563,000 in 2016. in the leadup to the 2016 election, the numbers increased because then-candidate trump spoke about securing our border with a wall that would finally end the possibility of illegal entry along our southern border. when candidate trump became president trump, this number decreased because potential immigrants believed that construction of the border wall was imminent. as a member of congress representing a border state, i have maintained regular co

it was a settlement reached in 1997 to deal with unaccompanied minors. it was an agreement with the government that an unaccompanied child would not be held in detention and would only be held in a licensed, non-secure facili facility. the judge expanded that settlement to include families, which we opposed and we were surprised at that ruling. that's what this administration is dealing with now. if you read the executive order very carefully, the president is saying it's now our policy to keep families together but we need to go back to this judge and get her to agree to change the terms -- >> which hasn't happened? >> it depends on the judge's permission. >> what do we think is happening to the 2300 kids who are not -- >> still out there. >> somewhere in what is being described in baby jails. we don't know what kind of facilities they are. they won't let us in. they won't let us take pictures. what will happen to these kids? >> first of all, it's a basic fact transparency is always better. sooner or later it's going to leak. somebody will find photogra

-- are manned to house unaccompanied minors. migrant kids who were brought to the u.s. illegally without having their parents with them. that is something that has been done before under the obama administration in 2014, when 7000 unaccompanied minors were housed on three military bases. i think we are talking about this case. however, we don't have information about the numbers, why the request was so specific year. we're still waiting for clarification from the pentagon. brent: the number 20,000 is certainly surprising. president trump yesterday announced that children would not be separated from their parents any longer. he has pledged to reunite over 2000 children with their families. we are looking at the reversal of flip-flopping. why is he doing this? alexandra: i think he was under a line of public pressure and growing criticism from within his own republican party. you also at the former first ladies criticizing the famamily separatition policy as cruel, immoraral, nothing that the u.s. ststands for come and of course,

what do you do with unaccompanied minors? it is the trump administration that takes a family unit, splits up that family unit and takes the children away from the parents. that is what is happening. the voices we hear at trump rallies reflect what donald trump himself has defined as the tone and tenor of the country. i'll say this as a republican. because on immigration laws, we like to say we're a nation of laws. but we are also a -- >> so let's follow the law. >> we're also a loving and caring nation. those two are not mutually exclusive. we can be a nation of laws while also being a loving and caring nation. we can say if you come here without a humanitarian claim. if you come here without proper documentation and we're going to process you and have a hearing, you can stay with your family while we do that. >> it's also cheaper. it's also far cheaper. >> and i think it's important to point out that the republican party for a long time has espoused themselves as pro-family, family values, pro-life and also fiscal conservati

unaccompanied alien children is up only 3% over this same time last year. so insofar as we have a crisis. >> wait a second, wait a second. >> the administration is making the crisis. >> the numbers are down year over year? >> if you look at fy-18, may 30th to fy-17, may 30th, this is from cbp's own website. looked at it before i came on your show. the numbers are down for family units, up slightly for unaccompanied alien children. they are provoking this crisis, deepening it by sharing information from are the office of refugee resettlement with i.c.e. so that as we're trying to place kids with relatives in the u.s. recent i.c.e. is first scanning them, picking up some for deportation and were unable to release the kids to relatives in the u.s. there be continuing to warehouse these kids and artificially creating a crisis of capacity. so when you see cbp officers and you may have seen this in mccallan and reynoso rejecting lawful asylum seekerses from entering this country providing incentive for them to come in between ports of entry and arresting them, an

majority of the children are unaccompanied. and were detained by d.h.s.nd border patrol for the majority. that is a big part of who we are and who we work with. >> because they are between 12 and 17 years old, right? they understand and know where they are. they are not young, young children. >> yes, ma'am. that's correct. >> do you have the capability to take care of younger children here? younger than 12? >> our license, state license does allow us to take children up until as young as 6. but they have asked us to stay within the 12-to-17 range. >> often times they place younger children in foster home. >> could you explain that process, how you do that? >> sure. at the time of detention, or apprehension we work closely with the partners at homeland security. they identify young children, 0 to 5 years old. we have a series of a network of foster homes throughout the united states that are licensed in that particular state to work with children from 0 to 5 years old. it's a family setting that the kids work in. the same standard applies. we assess them f

we get kids who are unaccompanied. these are kids who have been sent by their parents to cross into the united states by themselves, often with a smuggler, sometimes traffic into the country. or whose parents have brought them here and crossed illegally and then been arrested for paralegal crossing. we provide them with education, meals, medical care, dental, vision, athletic time, they get entertainment. they get psychiatric care. we are providing excellent care to these kids until we can get them placed with a sponsor. >> bret: you brought some video. we haven't been able to accept it on our own, with our own cameras, these facilities. these videos are from two different facilities and include girls and young children as well. first, will you let other cameras go in besides the video you are providing us here? and second, how do you look at these videos to tell this story? >> sure, we've had congressmen and senators, we've had the media, and tour the facilities. of course we need to have advanced notice. we are prote

those unaccompanied children over to hhs within 72 hours. and they literally lost track of i think about -- >> you're talking about the obama administration. you keep talking about the obama administration. >> i know. this is within the obama administration, and then the trump administration trying to check on the sponsors and unaccompanied children that had been sent into hhs. so, again, jake, this is incredibly complex problem. it's primarily we have -- we don't have the capacity to handle this flood. so the goal of our policy, literally ought to be to reduce that flow, and there's -- we have history in terms of how to do this. micha michael cherdoff, 31,000 brazilians, they called the operation texas hold 'em. they -- you know, they immediately apprehended the brazilians and sent them back home. the next year it was 1,500 brazilians, within three years less than a thousand. we learned from that. if you literally apprehend, quickly process and then return people, trying to get into this country illegally, it discourages. that's not what we

the rest came across the border unaccompanied. in terms of cleanliness and being hospital able, it appears this is a clean and safe facilities. dorm rooms, each room houses 12 children, 12 children in one dorm room that share one bathroom and that is where they sleep at night. one thing that is striking about going into those dorm rooms is that there is nothing on the walls. there is nothing on the floors, there's nothing to identify even that a child really lives there. now, they say this is a temporary place so technically they say the average stay here is about 25 days before they are able to find some type of foster parent or reunite them with their parent or immigrate them somehow to life here in the united states. but -- in terms of the structure, they're given six hours of education every day. we would watch through classrooms where children were being taught. they're given rememberingation every day, three meals a day, three snacks a day, and it does appear that, you know, that it's clean and it is safe. i will say one thi

that leaves the other 818 or 17% being unaccompanied units. there are very serious reasons why ice is separating children from parents. the first making sure they are not being traffic and the second being proof that these adults are parents of the children. so there are solutions on the table to change the way this is handled. it's up to congress to do this, not the executive branch. ice is simply doing their job in enforcing the law. you can say this is a horrible humanitarian situation but my question is, why is it our fault? why are we not holding accountable to parents who sent their children alone through mexico. why are we looking at that inhumanity of little girls taking birth control shots and bringing along plan b because of the horrible things that are happening as a result of the open border? this goes to the crux of the issue and the strong belief that the left doesn't want the prosecution of entering the crime illegally, and that results in inhumane conditions for those children. >> what is actually inhumane is right now at ports

for unaccompanied children. and in many ways it happens. we know that in the last four or five years, i was at the border when the surge of unaccompanied children came because of the violence particularly in central america. these children came, we knew they were coming. and we had standup facilities un by numbings nun -- nuns and other religious organizations to take unaccompanied children until a legal forwardian in the united states could be documented or some other legitimate family could be documented, when i say documented, documented they were able to take the child and that they were legal to the extent that they were not human traffickers. that is what policies we had. there is no policy there is no regulation, there is no statute there is no law. there is no law that is allowing the personnel at the border, customs, particularly border trol, to snatch, rip, tear children away from their families. if the distinguished gentleman from california would allow me, i want this to be a call to action. because there is a legal process, a l

to the end of may 30, 2000, unaccompanied minors have crossed the border.: what should happen next? what will happen today? >> we have to bring in the foreign national councils and set up a remedy in which these children are repatriated back to their home countries as soon as possible, we need to increase the number of immigration judges and trial attorneys to expedite these deportation cases in which people are facing. >> in terms of increasing the number of judges needed, where the money needs to go to make this happen? >> we need to increase the staffing of immigration judges. there are only so many in the united states and we need to increase it and increase asylum officers to review refugee cases coming through ports of entry but our goal is securing the national border in which most of these people are coming across the unsecure border. congress has an obligation to protect this country and it is reprehensible they have advocated the responsibilities county executive branch and told them chuck schumer did, to do what congress was supposed to be doing

they are unaccompanied. they were detained by dhs and border patrol, the majority. that is a big part of who we are and who we work with. >> because they are between 12 and 17? >> yes. >> they know where they are, they are not young young. >> a do you have the capability to take care of younger children here? they are not young young. >> it does not allow us to take children as young as six. they have asked us to stay within the 12 to 17 range. >> it does not allow us to take >> could you explain the process, how you do that? >> at the time of detention or apprehension, we work closely ith our partners over at homeland security and they identify young children, two to five years old. we have a network of foster homes throughout the united states that are licensed in that particular state to work with children from zero to five years old. it is a family setting that these kids work in. the same standard for assessing any medical need or any serious complications we may have to use doctors, hospitals, in the situation because we get everything of child in our custody.

. >> don't send your children unaccompanied on trains or through a bunch of smugglers.a policy's policies were worse on children, separating fact and fiction. stay tuned for sure. ♪ >> a lot of confusion about the trump administration immigration plan when it is not far from what the obama administration has done in the past. >> child smugglers exploit the loopholes. >> don't send your children unaccompanied on trains or through a bunch of smugglers. >> i signed an executive order. we will keep families together. >> i have one answer, pass a bill. heather: here to break down agendas and separating fact from fiction his accuracy in media director, appreciate it. you see these discrepancies on line. obama separated children, fact or fiction? >> that is a fact. it is well-known he separated parents, drug cartel links fathers or drugs carrying fathers across the border, additionally it is important to note that facts like these are very important, a big immigration debate and important to distinguish by calling it an actual fact, this happened under the obama administration

many of those now in centers are unaccompanied children. have a responsibility to adjudicate those situations as quickly as possible. caller isent of the that parents should not have sent their children north unaccompanied. i agree with that. if you are about to be 91, i calculate you may have been born in 1927. happy birthday is you approach your 91st birthday. i hohat i ve the same type of genes that you have. i commend you for your wonderful life. host: bob in tyler. good morning. i have two quick questions. defendtake an oath to the constitution every two years? guest: yes, sir. caller: what is your interpretation of article four, section four regarding our border? we have ahink responsibility to make sure our border is secure. i try to defend all aspects of the american constitution. americanhe constitution is the greatest governing document that has been produced over the history of mankind. our rights come from the hand of god, not from the hand of man. district in new jersey. new jersey was the first state to ratify the bill of righ

will happen after that the pentagon has been also to prepare housing for up to twenty thousand unaccompanied migrant children on u.s. military bases and the white house has gone to damage control over the separation and the first lady melania trump has made a surprise visit to a shelter for child migrants at the us mexico border but what was supposed to be a trip of compassion tell it turned into a p.r. disaster off the she wore a jacket with a message i don't really care do you and then the geisha of the u.s. mayors have also traveled to texas to monsey in washington finds a solution. children are not poker chips they are people and we demand that washington fix the mess that has created the present reach treated today has not solved the problem we're all saying that zero tolerance still exists that's breaking an american tradition of respecting people fleeing oppression the families are not reunify we don't know when they'll be we're going to fight for that. now we have two correspondents covering the story for us care brothers under is a mccallan texas that's women on the a tram visited t

it turns out it was taken in 2014 during the unaccompanied minors crisis.ts say they were beaten and left in solitary confinement under the obama administration. >> that's not accurate. i think if you remember there was a lot of discussion and a lot of concern about how undocumented people were treated under obama. but under obama there was not a policy that says that you are a mom with a little boy coming over we will grab that boy and put him into a detention center which will cause long term psychological problems for that kid. that was not the policy of the obama administration and must never be the policies of the united states of america. we have to deal once again with immigration through comprehensive immigration reform. trump caused the problem just as he caused the daca problem. >> more than a dozen democratic congressional candidates reportedly support abolishing or defunding i.c.e., the immigration and customs enforcement agency including cynthia nixon who tweeted i.c.e. is a terrorist organization and its leader is donald trump signing a petiti

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 we've 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 they've been rendered unaccompanied about the the gerald government or came by themselves we don't 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. they're together for the time being, but then once they're processed and they exit this facility. when the mother goes off to federal court, i can't tell you, because we don't know and we haven't been told. doctor, i want to ask you about the responsibility of physicians like yourself. i was all taken the hip ocrattic oath. what's your role as this continues. ho doctors see this role? >> at we hav

it removes critical protections for unaccompanied children and does away for safeguards for children traveling with their parents. it would decimate the agriculture industry by

they're getting here -- lou: they're unaccompanied children.y have been kidnapped, many have been abducted and the fact is you have people screaming about these children. no one knows who belongs to whom amongst those families because they're not being vetted. and here is this important point, in my opinion. and that is most of these kids are from central america, not from mexico and that is intentional. because we can't do anything about unaccompanied children from central america and they know it, these are the cartels, the smugglers, and the mexican government. because they're moving all the way from the southern border of mexico to the u.s.-mexico border. and that means it has to be complicit, it has to be cooperative with the government of mexico and they're driving this now with the proillegal immigrant, the open borders advocates. this is transparent. and people want to talk about this being an accident? this brings back the echos of the north american union. this is harmonization gongs agat mexico and the united states and canada to do

and europe now spain has offered to take in more than six hundred migrants many of them unaccompanied children who are currently stranded on a rescue ship in the mediterranean the ship initially headed for italy and then malta both countries refused to let it dock the ship is now three days sail away from spain and supplies are running low. on food and water but the charity operating the ship said that that would only last for a day. off to surviving the deadly mediterranean waters six hundred thirty people on board this rescue ship caught up in a diplomatic row among them unaccompanied minors and pregnant women the aquarius drifted between. to both countries close the ports to the vessel and refused to take in the migrants on board on monday there was some hope for the refugees of spain said it would accept the ship italy's new anti immigrant government claimed the offer as a victory. interior minister and leader of the far right party. has long demanded that the e.u. help more on immigration. it's the first important sign that italy can't continue to bear this huge burden on its own

spain has offered to take in more than six hundred migrants many of them unaccompanied children stranded on a rescue ship in the mediterranean after italy and malta refused to let a dock or multiple accused to italy of violating international law by turning the boat away even though the italian coast guard coordinate the rescue but maltese says it will send supplies to the ship the aquarius because it's running out of food. after surviving the deadly mediterranean waters six hundred thirty people on board this rescue ship caught up in the diplomatic route many of them are unaccompanied minors. the aquarius is stuck at sea between italy and malta after both countries closed their ports to the vessel and refused to take in the migrants who were on board on sunday italian authorities stopped their ship from docking in sicily saying it should head to malta instead italy's new interior minister and leader of the far right league party vini tweeted that the country would no longer accept what he calls clandestine immigration he later said that malta and the rest of the e.u. were failing to com

federal health officials have requested the pentagon prepare housing for up to twenty thousand unaccompanied migrant children on military bases and on thursday first lady melania trump went on a p.r. offensive making a surprise visit to a detention center on the border damage control from president trump by all means necessary. are you want to go now to our washington bureau chief alexander phenomena good evening to you all xandra so the department of defense this is remarkable reportedly been requested to help us up to twenty thousand migrant children on u.s. military bases and we will the u.s. resume the policy of separating children from migrant families i mean why is this twenty thousand words that number coming from. well that wouldn't be my interpretation that the administration is willing to start a family it's really separation policy again i would say that it's something that the trouble with ration has been looking into this option whether it's possible to house my grandchildren on military bases for a while and this request at specifically saying that this housing possibilities th

all right, you have been covering the rise and unaccompanied minors for over a year. why is this happening? >> two different things. 2014, unaccompanied minors coming that's separation there, the kids coming on their own, being put in detention facilities here in the valley, brownsville now in the memo from jeff sessions is further separation of children from families due to 100% prosecution of everyone who entered the country illegally. >> jennifer, walk us through. some make the argument if these people are fleeing for their lives, then when they cross the border, they should have to follow the law, and even if these detention centers are somewhat repressive, it's better than where they came from, and it has to be organized in some form or fashion. what is your take when people give you that response? >> sure. so detention is never in the best interest of a child. andly tell you that these families and children are flagging down officials and asking for us for protection. they have every incentive to comply with our judicial system. they're turning themselves in and

we assume that was taking unaccompanied minors to dinner. by way of reporting, lawrence, i landed here recently as you did, i came from london, i cover government strife around the world. it's incredibly uncomfortable saying to you and the country on camera the american government is not letting us inside these facilities. the american government is not showing us inside these facilities. the american government is offering jacob soboroff photos from two years ago. i'm used to saying these things in countries overseas. the thing that has always -- and this is by way of reporting -- the thing that has made america different than countries around the world is the fighting of individual liberties and its allies and in the past year that has gone away. the view from here is limited. we can't get in, we will certainly try. >> cal perry in tornillo, texas. thank you very much. appreciate it. we are joined here in brownsville, texas, by ephraim olivares, the director of racial and justice program. also, the executive director for the refugee and im

, evethough they arrived together with a family member and, under laws, unaccompanied children are placedin a separate legal track. >> yang: and if the parent isir returned to thome country, the child isn't necessarily reited with thrent? >> that's exactly right. in fact, we have been working with some pares who have been deported back to central america while their ild has remained in the custody of the office of refugee resettlement. these parents are fr it's been weeks since they've contacted the child and once you're back in the home coitunty even more difficult to establish contact. brown: amna, you were leaving the el paso airport this morning. tell us what you w. >> this speaks to the heart of us as journalists is the transparency, when you request information. frank carlsen and i were at the border leaving and we noticed a group of young men who all had unaccompanied minor bag tags onm nd appeared to be escorted by similarly clothed adults. we approached them and asked the adults with them can you telus about these young guys? tey looked anywhere from 9 or 10 to 17 or 18. we were

there are now some girls in the facility, separated, but mostly unaccompanied minors.m their families and hopefully we're going to be reunited soon. >> do you know if any children who were taken to that facility have already been reunited? >> there's -- there were about -- only 26 who have been torn from their families under the new policy. three have been returned to their families already, and 23 are pending. >> and you mentioned you saw girls in that facility too. do you know how that came to be? because initially, when they first erected that facility, temporary facility, more of a tent facility of sorts, that was just boys,s was our understanding, who were taken there. so it sounds like they're actually adding to the numbers there if you're now seeing girls there as well. >> they are adding to the girls. so there were a group of girls there, mostly from -- all from central america. had the opportunity to talk to them as well in spanish. they are relatively recent arrivals to the country but they crossed the border as unaccompanied minors and these girls certainly

waters six hundred thirty people onboard this rescue ship caught up in a diplomatic row among them unaccompanied minors and pregnant women the aquarius drifted between israeli and multi after both countries closed their ports to the vessel and refused to take in the migrants on board on monday there was some hope for the refugees spain said it would accept the ships italy's new anti immigrant government claim the offer as a victory. interior minister and leader of the far right league party. has long demanded that the e.u. help italy more on immigration. first important sign that italy can't continue to bear this huge burden on its own. i mean it's clear the european union can't go on this way. we hope today is a new beginning. but the charity running the rescue ship has warned of the challenges in reaching the spanish port of the length it would take at least two days putting vulnerable people at risk that's why the un is continuing to put pressure on italy and malta which are much closer to let the ship dock its creation is getting more dramatic by the minute and that's why we are asking this

these are not unaccompanied alien children. these are children you took from their parents arms. now they have a hodgepodge where they are looking for beds where ever they can. they are putting children, as you've shown the pictures many times, in basically kennels at the border where most people wouldn't allow their goidog to y and using private facilities around the country but they have lost connection with the children and can't put them bac with the parents and the parents don't know where the children are. think about the trauma that these children have gone through. child walks into a country, doesn't speak the language. is pulled from their parents, put in a car, flown to a different state. i mean you could potentially scar these children for life. forget the politics and all the garbage their doing in washington, this is humanity. this is decency. >> apparently right now we're going to have to cut to the president announcing how he is backing down from this policy. we want to thank you. we'll listen to this. >> we are very strong at the border. we're very strong on secur