Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that children of migrants make the “choice” to illegally cross the border. Noem made the comment when Brennan asked her how she felt about the Trump administration placing undocumented families in detention centres in their immigration efforts.
“Remember, everybody has an option,” Noem told Brennan. “They have an option to be here legally or illegally, and they can self-deport as well.”
“The kids don’t really have a choice in this,” Brennan tried to interject, but Noem spoke over.
“Well, the kids do have a choice," Noem said. “If they have parents, they make a choice to keep their families together, if they want to or not."
“If parents make a decision to leave their children behind, then that’s a choice that they made as a family,” she added.
Brennan went on to ask Noem if the DHS had any plans to "revive" the policy of separating these families at the border. “I don’t know that we’re actually reviving it,” Noem said, and then blamed former president Joe Biden.
“Biden didn’t follow the law,” Noem said. “He made decisions to ignore federal law in how he handled immigration and enforcement within our borders.”
{{/usCountry}}“Biden didn’t follow the law,” Noem said. “He made decisions to ignore federal law in how he handled immigration and enforcement within our borders.”
{{/usCountry}}“If you break our law, then there’s going to be consequences,” she added.
Jasmine Crockett disagrees
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, later said that she did not agree with Noem. Crockett told The Katie Phang Show that entering the country was "not a crime" but instead a "civil accusation.” "[Republicans] are so outraged by these immigrants and the crime that they’re bringing. And not to mention, city law enforcement, local law enforcement, they are always going after crime," Crockett said.
She continued, "And they don’t say, ‘oh, you committed a murder, oh, but you’re an immigrant. Well, let me let you go.’ Right? So they are always focused on crime."
"They continue to say things like ‘the illegals’ and that they broke the law coming in. But what they’re not telling the American people is that it is a civil violation. It is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally. It’s not. It’s not criminal. It’s not a crime. It’s not a crime," she added.
Crockett further said, "Which is why they’re so frustrated, because they really want our local law enforcement to go out and round up people when they could be looking out for the murderers and the sexual abusers, as well as the robbers. They want them to go and round people up on civil accusations.”
Crockett slammed Republicans for supporting immigration raids and Donald Trump, and called the president "the biggest criminal" of them all. "That’s why I wanted to point out, don’t give me this fake outrage about criminals roaming our streets when you guys stand 10 toes down for the biggest criminal that we have ever seen go into the White House," she said.