MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: Immigration

Interview

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MOHYELDIN: Today, a homeland security watchdog releasing a revealing report on ICE`s detention conditions saying the agency fails to ensure adequate oversight with egregious repeat deficiencies. Now, this comes amid growing calls for Democrats and 19 top ICE investigators to dissolve the agency.

Our next guest is someone saying just that. Congressman Adriano Espaillat will also be marching tomorrow here in New York alongside thousands who are expected to rally nationwide against Trump`s zero tolerance immigration policy.

The main event is in D.C. but more than 600 rallies are expected and planned in all 50 states. Now organizers are demanding that Trump permanently end his zero tolerance policy. This as we learn the Trump administration began separating migrant children before Trump enacted his policy in May as part of a quote "pilot program."

With me now is Democratic congressman Adriano Espaillat of New York. A member of the Hispanic caucus. He is marching tomorrow as I mentioned right here in New York City.

Congressman, it is great to have you with us.

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D), NEW YORK: Thank you, Ayman.

MOHYELDIN: First of all, the President has signed this executive order that his arguing is meant to bring families back together. Why are the marches still taking place tomorrow in the President signed this executive order?

ESPAILLAT: Because families have not come together. Andin fact families are still apart. I went to visit dads on father`s day at a local federal prison in Jersey. And I went to visit some of the mothers or rather the foster moms and the children in the Cuba (ph) centrum.

And so, children are still apart from their parents. These are children that travel as far as Arizona, Texas and California all the way to New York City. And that many of them are all over the United States. So they still separated from parents. Some of the parents have been deported back to the country of origin. So that makes it even further complicated. So that is why we are marching. We are marching to denounce this horrific policy to split children as young as nine months old from their parents. And we are marching because we want them back together again.

MOHYELDIN: I have a two-part question for you about ICE. I know that you believe that ICE should be abolished. Tell me why you think ICE should be abolished? And more importantly, what happens if ICE is in fact abolished, what replaced it?

ESPAILLAT: Well, I think that -- first of all, ICE has not always been around.

MOHYELDIN: Yes. It used to be the INS.

ESPAILLAT: It used to be the INS. And so, and I think that ICE has overstepped its boundary. It`s become an agency that is sometimes over the top. It goes around school grounds, church grounds to arrest people. It`s too aggressive and over the top. And I think it has lost its course. And so -- but we should replace it with something sensible, something practical. They still have to be a law enforcement agency but one that is a little bit more humane.

MOHYELDIN: What would you say ICE`s biggest fault is? What is it doing that is actually you know, for people like you giving it a reason to be abolished?

ESPAILLAT: Well, you know, that`s the problem. We don`t know to what degree they`re doing what they`re doing. That`s why I put forward a piece of legislation that asks for them not to cross sensitive locations and to have body cameras so we can really look at every interaction they have with civilians across the United States. And so, it`s a runaway agency there should be a pullback and I think something more effective and practical and humane should be put in place.

MOHYELDIN: You brought up the issue of the families that are still divided, the kids that are still in custody away from their parents. On Tuesday during a hearing, the DHS Secretary was crushed about how many children have been reunited with their parents. Take a listen to this sound bite.

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MOHYELDIN: Are you, sir, confident that the U.S. government knows where every one of those kids are and more importantly that they have the ability to reunite those kids?

ESPAILLAT: They have no clue what`s going on. This is like an Abbott and Costello movie. Unfortunately, there`s children and families are in the middle of this. I know that the site that I went to, they told me how children bring little notes with somebody`s name and phone number attached to the safety pin and that`s what they try to contact. There could be a distant c0usin or an aunt or an uncle. They`re not necessarily contacting their immediate parent, mother or father. And so this is really, really a nightmare. These folks came here may be looking for the American Dream is turned into American nightmare.

MOHYELDIN: That`s an absolutely heartbreaking situation any way you look at it. Congressman Adriano, it`s great to have you, sir.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you so much.

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