MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Immigration
Interview
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HAYES: We`ve been bringing you stories about the Trump administration`s horrific policy of tearing immigrant children away from their parents at the border, but it`s important to remember the U.S. immigration system is rife with everyday cruelty, as well, like what happened to pizza delivery man Pablo Villavicenzio (ph) who brought an order to an army an base -- he`s delivering a pizza on an army base on Friday in Brooklyn, and was detained by ICE. He`s now facing deportation to Ecuador as soon as next week, which would leave his U.S. citizen wife and two daughters, also Americans, without him.
You might think that fixing the U.S. immigration system would be a priority for congress, but you would be wrong. A closed door immigration meeting today ended in confusion with conflicting reports about a deal on the table, maybe or maybe not.
Politico reporting, quote, conservatives quickly denied that any such proposal was made confound centrist Republicans and quickly unraveling any good will built during the two-hour Republican conference meeting earlier in the day.
And here to help me understand what`s actually going on, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas and Republican Congressman Jeff Denham of California who was at that meeting and who has been running point on this issue, as far as I can tell, and can tell us exactlywhat happened.
OK, Congressman Denham, members of your caucus have gotten together what`s called a discharge petition, enough signatures, a majority of members of the House. You can bring something to the floor immediately to get a vote, in some respects on the DACA eligible folks to give them statutory protections.
You go into a meeting with Republican leadership today to work out some kind of deal and what happens?
REP. JEFF DENHAM, (R) CALIFORNIA: Well, we certainly had a very good discussion as we have in many of our different meetings. We had that same discussion with the entire Republican conference. I would say it was very productive. It was a good conversation. But ultimately, you can`t have an agreement until something is put on paper so that we can not only share that with the American public, but certainly know the parameters of any agreement.
HAYES: I`m just going to translate that for you. And you tell me if I`m translating it correctly. You went in and thought you had a deal, came out and then the House Freedom Caucus was like absolutely no way over our dead bodies?
DENHAM: Oh, we have had a number of different meetings with members of the Freedom Caucus there. Ideas were thrown out. I`ve been willing to agree to most of those ideas as long as we have a permanent fix for Dreamers. That was all laid out in conference today. And now we`re looking forward to seeing that in writing.
HAYES: OK, so you want to get something in writing.
I want to come to you Congressman Castro in a second, but I just want to bear down on this. So, is it your intention to -- I think you need three more signatures in the discharge petition. Do you have those locked up?
And are you going to get over the magic threshold to actually force it?
DENHAM: We do. When we set out with this rule, and then thd discharge petition, we made sure we had the numbers lined up. We`re ready to discharge. And tuesday is the day that this has to get done.
But ultimately we`d like to see our conference come together on something that can be a bipartisan agreement.
HAYES: Congressman Castro, why do I feel like Lucy and the football here? Like is this happening? What`s happening?
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO, (D) TEXAS: Well, first, I`m glad that Jeff and 21 other Republicans I think, or 22 other Republicans, have signed on to a discharge petition to basically put this issue on the floor for a vote.
At the same time, I would say that they ought to give Speaker Paul Ryan about 12 hours or so to make a decision about whether there`s going to be anything in writing or not, because the country has waited too long to fix this broken immigration system and the people affected, as you mentioned one gentleman at the beginning, have been waiting too long also.
HAYES: Congressman Denham, what is the resistance in your caucus?
DENHAM: Certainly there are concerns from some about what the pathway to citizenship would look like. I`ve been very consistent and very vocal that this needs to be a permanent fix for Dreamers.
This is something that should have been done before March 5, but because we missed that deadline, I immediately started working with the parliamentarian to see how we can actually force a vote, force a new timeline. And that`s exactly what we have in front of us.
It`s forcing a conversation right now, but ultimately, we want to see that full debate on the House floor.
CASTRO: And Chris, I would also add because you brought it up earlier, I would ask for Jeff`s help and the help of other Republicans in ending the Trump policy of separating kids from their mothers and fathers at the border, which is an inhumane and cruel and brutal policy that even the united nations had to call out the United States on a few days ago.
HAYES: Congressman, do you support or oppose that policy?
DENHAM: I want to see a fixed to our broken immigration system. That is a policy that is current law. It was done under the previous administration, but ultimately yes, I agree, it needs to be fixed. You shouldn`t be tearing families apart.
HAYES: Factually, though, it was not done under the administration, sir.
DENHAM: That is not what ICE and border patrol are telling us. I have been down on the border. I`ve toured the border. In fact, we toured the border together a few years ago. We saw some of these detention centers. We saw people coming across the border seeking asylum.
HAYES: Right, family detention. But what the administration is doing right now, and they have announced it. They call it zero tolerance policy.
I`ve read the order written by Jeff Sessions signed under his name in April. He`s given speeches about it is they are prosecuting everyone seeking asylum and in so prosecuting, separating children as young as 1-
year-old from their parents. You think that`s a bad idea, though, I take it?
DENHAM: I do. I do think it`s a bad idea. I think it is one more reason why we`ve got to come together and fix this immigration system that`s been broken for far too long.
HAYES: So, is this going to happen? Is there going to be a vote? Here`s my question, is there going to be a vote on something having some sort of permanent protection for DACA, some pathway to citizenship, from
this congress is going to happen? Is that what you`re saying?
DENHAM: Absolutely. We will either have an agreement in writing here coming very shortly or we will be moving forward on a discharge petition that allow a full debate on each of the different issues. And keep in
mind, Bob Goodlatte, the chair of the judiciary committee, has his bill. So the Freedom Caucus has a vote on their bill, as well. And the speaker, president they get a bill, as well.
HAYES: Congressman Castro, do you think that`s going to happen?
CASTRO: Well, again, you know, I`m eternally optimistic. And I think you have to be optimistic and hopeful, because we`re dealing with the lives of close to a million people. So, we`ve got keep pressing and pushing. I
just hope that, you know, we don`t see the same thing that we`ve had in the past few years when John Boehner was speaker. He said that Republicans would do this thing, instead of doing comprehensive reform, they would do it piecemeal. And not a single bill was ever put on the floor.
So, I hope and pray that this time it`s different. And we`re just going to keep working on our end.
HAYES: Well, Congressman Denham, I`ve got to say, I`ve been covering this particular Republican congress since as long as it`s been constituted. I have seen the Freedom Caucus wield tremendous influence and leverage over the speaker forcing him to do all sorts of things. I have never seen it from the other side. Right now you`re doing something no one has done so far, so I`m -- this is quite an interesting thing to watch.
Joaquin Castro, congressman -- and Congressman Jeff Denham, thank you both for joining me.
DENHAM: Thanks for having me.
CASTRO: Thank you.
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