CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senators Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

CABRERA: Polo Sandoval, there in New Jersey. Nick Valencia in Brownsville, Texas, for us. Thank you both.

[18:05:00] I want to take you to McAllen, Texas, now, where just a short time ago I spoke to two lawmakers who went inside government facilities there processing these children and their family members.

Here's my conversation with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Well, Senator Merkley and I just visited one of the processing centers here in McAllen where they are putting a lot of the kids and separating them from their parents. We talked to one of the moms there who had been separated from her daughter. The mom and daughter had come from Guatemala. They asked for asylum but now the moms being prosecuted as a criminal and will be separated from her daughter.

This is a deliberate and inhumane policy and we're here to say to President Trump, end it, end it today.

CABRERA: Do you know the age range of the children being separated?

VAN HOLLEN: There's a very wide age range. I mean, I think if you -- they made a policy I think if you're under 5 they're not going to actually take you from your mom or dad. But we don't really know. This is a lot of chaos down here but through all the chaos, there are some things that we can see very clearly which is they are deliberately enforcing this new policy of separating moms and dads from their sons and daughters.

CABRERA: Senator Merkley, I know you guys were talking about the processing center where the parents are working their way now through the immigration system. I'm curious if you've had a chance to actually see the facilities where the children are being kept and I'm curious as to what you can tell us about those facilities.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: We are going to be able to see that facility in Brownsville later today. We have not seen it yet. We did of course see the children who were held inside here in wire mesh chain link cages that are -- they're about 30 by 30. A lot of young folks put into them. I must say, though, far fewer than when I was here two weeks ago. I

was told that buses full were taken away before we arrived. And this is one of my concerns that essentially when you have to give lengthy notice, you end up seeing a little bit of a show, rather than seeing what's really going on at these centers.

CABRERA: So there are a couple of things that I hope you can shed light on because one of the things that we know is happening is that they are prosecuting everybody who is crossing the border illegally leading to families being separated.

But do either of you know whether any of the families that are going through this are actually coming through the points of entry seeking asylum or all of them crossing the border elsewhere hence making it illegal?

MERKLEY: Yes, here's what's going on. It's a comprehensive strategy of preventing people from seeking asylum. So at the bridges, those who already have documents, passports and so forth are let in while those seeking asylum are kept in the no man's land between Mexico and the United States. Then we've talked to those who work with refugees, who've talked about people being in that no man's land for six, seven, eight.

There was a "Washington Post" report of nine days. We talked to a lawyer, a pro bono lawyer who had talked to families where there 10 and 12 days. So they're not being let in easily at the official border points where it's absolutely legal to assert asylum. So other families are going and saying, well, we can't just be in the heat.

I'm sitting here sweating a lot. Can you imagine being out here nine or 10 days waiting without a supply of food and water? And so they are going to cross the border and that's where the administration is saying oh, they broke the law crossing the border outside the border checkpoint. So now we'll all arrest them and treat them as criminal and take their kids away.

I have also heard, though, of a number of stories of people who did cross at the official checkpoints who have also been charged with a crime and separated from their children.

VAN HOLLEN: Yes --

MERKLEY: Yes. Go ahead.

VAN HOLLEN: You know, I asked Mr. Padilla, who was the officer in charge here at the processing facility. Whether any of the kids there had been separated from their parents after coming across a legal point of entry. And his response was he didn't know. He didn't know if that kind of separation was happening.

What we do know is that those who are waiting for a long time, as Senator Merkley said, to try and come across the official points of entry, they are backed up for days and days. They hire somebody to take them across the river and then bang, they can get them and separate them immediately from their moms and dads, the children -- the sons and daughters from their moms and dads.

CABRERA: As you know --

(CROSSTALK)

MERKLEY: We want to emphasize here.

CABRERA: Go ahead.

MERKLEY: I just want to emphasize that regardless of how well kids are cared for at a detention center, it is inflicting enormous trauma on the children and enormous angst on the parents to engage in family separation. I know there is no need at all, no justification of any kind for doing so as people await asylum hearings.

CABRERA: Let me ask you this --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN HOLLEN: I think the other thing worth emphasizing --

CABRERA: You mentioned that you believe children older than 5 years old are the ones who were being separated. But then we also are hearing reports of a mother who was breastfeeding when her child was taken from her.

[18:10:03] Do you believe that to be true or is that a report that was -- a rumor that got out and is untrue?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, based on our conversations with the attorneys here and some of the other folks who have been helping people asking for asylum, there's no doubt that this is sort of a chaotic process. And I believe those reports are very credible. We also heard reports about moms and dads being told that their kids had to be taken to take a bath and then they never return.

So I think the bottom line here, Ana, is that this is a deliberate policy. This is a choice that President Trump made. There's no law despite what he says and how often he says it. There's no law that requires this inhumane policy and they should end it today.

CABRERA: He is blaming Democrats for what's happening there.

Senator Merkley, how do you respond?

MERKLEY: Yes. Well, the president has no credibility on this topic. There's no new law that caused this, there's no law that was passed by Democrats. It's administrative policy that they started considering according to the press reports when he first came into office. And then they started a pilot project last summer. They told the American people they weren't separating kids. They were. Then they said they were doing it to protect them from smugglers.

How is it possible that a parent with a child safe here in the United States is being protected from a smuggler by separating that person from the child? And then the president a couple of days ago said well, there's another value of this policy and that is it gives him leverage with legislation.

Let me just say, that to hurt children, to get leverage on legislation, is evil and completely unacceptable.

CABRERA: I'll leave it there, guys. I know you've got to go. Thank you so much for taking the time, for helping to shed light as to what's happening there on the ground.

MERKLEY: Ana, thank you.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

CABRERA: We'll be in touch with you. Thanks.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source