The Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, addressed on Monday the zero-tolerance immigration policy amid growing outcry over the forced separation it is causing to families apprehended at the border.
Ms. Nielsen opened with a statement on the policy and then answered questions from reporters in the White House briefing room.
The following is a transcript of that appearance.
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SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, White House press secretary: … To answer your questions on this topic, I invited Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to the podium. And as always, I’ll be back up afterwards to take questions on other news of the day. Thanks.
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, secretary of homeland security: Well, good afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here, because I would love to see if I can help explain some of what is going on and give you some of the facts. I know there have been a lot put out there but hopefully we can clarify some things today. I just wanted to start by thanking the sheriffs of the United States. I had the privilege of speaking to them this morning at the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference. We are so thankful for their partnership at D.H.S. and all they do to protect our community. So I thank them.
So, I want to provide you an update on the illegal immigration crisis on the southern border and the efforts the administration is taking to solve this crisis and to stop the flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, contraband and crime coming across the border.
So let’s just start with a few numbers and facts. So, in the last three months we’ve seen illegal immigration on our southern border exceed 50,000 people each month, multiples over each month last year. Since this time last year, there has been a 325 percent increase in unaccompanied alien children and a 435 percent increase in family units entering the country illegally.
Over the last ten years, there has been a 1700 percent increase in asylum claims, resulting in asylum backlog of 600,000 cases. Since 2013, the United States has admitted more than half a million illegal immigrant minors and family units from Central America, most of whom today are at large in the United States. At the same time, large criminal organizations such as MS-13 have violated our borders and gained a deadly foothold within the United States. This entire crisis, just to be clear, is not new. It is been occurring and expanded over many decades. But currently it is the exclusive product of loopholes in our federal immigration laws that prevent illegal immigrant minors and family members from being detained and removed to their home countries.
In other words, these loopholes create a functionally open border. Apprehension without detention and removal is not border security. We have repeatedly called on Congress to close the loopholes. I myself have met with as many members as have been willing to meet with me, and I testified seven times, and I will 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. In particular, we need to reform three major loopholes. Let me quickly walk you through them.
First, we need to amend the 2008 Trafficking Victims Prevention Reauthorization Act, or T.V.P.R., 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 assist asylum seekers who legitimately need it. We are 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 Flores Settlement Agreement and recent expansions which would allow for family detention during the removal process. And we need Congress to fully fund our ability to hold families together through the immigration process. And until these loopholes are closed by Congress, it is not possible as a matter of law to detain and 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. Its prime beneficiary would be the smuggling organizations themselves, and the prime victims would be the children, who would be plunged into the smuggling machines on the trip north.
There is a lot of misinformation about what D.H.S. is and is not doing as it relates to families at the border. And I want to correct the record here. 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 — multiple 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 are cases where minors have been used and trafficked by unrelated adults in an effort to avoid detention. And I’d stop here to say in the last five months, we have a 314 percent 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 secure 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 D.H.S. refers a case against a parent or legal guardian for criminal prosecution, the parent or legal guardian will be placed into the U.S. Marshals Service custody for pretrial determination, pursuant to an order by a federal judge, and any accompanied child will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services and will be reclassified as an unaccompanied alien child.
That is in accordance with the T.V.P.R.A., a law that was passed by Congress, and following a court order, neither of which actions the Trump administration has taken. And 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 D.H.S. and H.H.S. custody are being well taken care of. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement provides meals, medical care and educational services to these children. They are provided temporary shelter, and H.H.S. 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 video conferencing.
And a parent who is released from custody can be a sponsor and ask H.H.S. to release the child back into their care. Further, these minors can still apply for asylum 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 put their children at risk.
Fourth, C.B.P. and I.C.E. officers are trained to care for minors in their custody. D.H.S. and H.H.S. 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 established protocols to protect at-risk populations to include standards for the transport and treatment of minors in D.H.S. and H.H.S. 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 relevance 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, D.H.S. 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, D.H.S. does have a responsibility to protect minors and, in that case as well, we will only separate the family if we cannot determine there is a familial relationship, if the child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian, or if the parent or legal guardian is referred for prosecution. We have a duty to protect the American people and it is one that I take very seriously.
Here is the bottom line: D.H.S. is no longer ignoring the…
