Head Of ICE Scolds House Dem: Don’t Call Us Anti-Immigrant For Enforcing Laws Passed By Congress

now we love to talk about this issue but the ms-13 gangs we love to paint immigrants as criminals that is not the complete facts and that is very offensive for me to see continuing to happen it's continuing to message this this anti-immigrant agenda there are many of lots of good immigrants and then I hear this rhetoric Mourdock alike people guess what daca like people are the people we need in this country they've served this country they've gone to college they're / they produce and they contribute to the economy so to put them into the same category is completely offensive now I happen to know about some of these people who come over and seek asylum why cuz I represented a family an unaccompanied minor when I was an attorney on a pro bono level and I had to go find his mom who was also in detention now it is extremely hard to get asylum it is very hard to get asylum this standard is very hard and it's very high now I had unlimited resources at a big law firm I could hire experts and even then I couldn't get asylum was it a fraud no does she and they get protections yes under a different category it took years but there are people who come to this country because they're fleeing the violence in my particular case they already killed one of her sons guess what when one of your children has killed and you have one left you are gonna run you are going to try to seek safe haven and so it makes me sick to my stomach to keep hearing over and over again painting the broad stroke and the picture and so these are folks who are coming here to do harm and so you know it's just unbelievable to me how this Doretta continues and to see it continue in a campaign season just gets even worse and worse and just because you don't get asylum does it mean that it's a fraud and I think that's something that's just so important for me to state now I want to move on to the issue of Lyman separation according to the New York Times more than 700 children had to be taken from adults claiming to be their parents since October including more than a hundred children under the age of four secretary Neilson disputed this figure at a May 15th Senate Homeland hearing she said that the 700 children figure was an HHS number and not a DHS figure does anybody on this panel know what the DHS figure is we can't for the record get back to you with the actual number of people who were in CBP custody and it was either unable to determine whether there was a familiar relationship that we could prove and were comfortable with or somebody was prosecuted under the having crossed the border illegally and then that caused a family separation we can get back to you and give you the exact number that okay and let me tell you it is hard for some of these families when they're fleeing violence and they're leaving their country they're not exactly saying oh let me go look for documentation so that I can prove this is my child I had a hard time in my own case having to find people there on the ground to get the documents that we needed to make a case right people are leaving because they're in distress because they're facing violence and they're fearful right it's not generally something they're thinking about before they take off how do I prove this is my child I'll tell you right now if I had to go find something to prove my relationship with my mother probably take me a little while so I understand how difficult this is can you tell me how we are counting and tracking children that are separated from children so everybody that's taken into custody it goes through the a booking procedure right we get the biographical information and so all of that is in the documentation systems at CBP so that that's how we try to establish whether they're related or not using those documents that all becomes part of their record because as they come in that part of that processing is referring them for a removal hearing all right thank you I yield back can I respond to the speech I was made absolutely first of all no one on this panels anti-immigrant we're law enforcement officers when forcing law that you all enacted so to sit there and say we're anti immigrants is wrong we are enforcing laws if you think it's okay to enter this country legally shouldn't be arrested that's just wrong that lost clearly state and you enter the country legally is a crime and no one's up here saying all criminal illegal aliens are criminals a certain percentage of our criminal take they commit yet another fence actually here I have said many times I certainly understand the plight of these people and I feel bad for some of these people but I have a job to do I have to enforce law and uphold the oath I took to enact the laws enacted by you Congress