CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Rashida Tlaib

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Nick, thank you, Nick Valencia in El Paso.

Joining us now, a member of Congress who visited border facilities in Texas this week, Representative Rashida Tlaib. She's a Democrat who serves on the Oversight Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Let me read to you a portion of the president's tweets that he posted just a little while ago.

"Many of these illegals," he says, "Many of these illegal aliens are living far better now than where they came from and in far safer conditions. No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked and aghast at how terrible things are."

You visited, together with your colleagues, some of these facilities on Monday of this week. Were you just acting shocked, as the president says?

TLAIB: Look, before I'm even a member of Congress, I'm also a mother of two children.

And I just can't imagine how, internally, many of the women that we met, the grandmother that I met, how they really were feeling. But I can tell you the conditions are bad.

Everything that people have been talking about is true in regards to the culture from within, but also the fact that children are being separated from their family members, that they're not being processed within a time period that is required.

I mean, some have been there for over 40 days. Some women -- a woman that is pregnant has not seen an OB-GYN, has been in there for 27 days. These are very vulnerable, poor communities.

And I ask the president of the United States, please stop tweeting. Go there yourself. See the conditions.

I don't know what to do other than to call for his humanity, some sort of -- this is a humanitarian crisis. And we need to see it for -- as is. Instead of blaming others, let's fix it. Instead of tweeting, let's actually take action to addressing this issue.

The humanitarian crisis is here now. And trying to compare conditions or not, we saw it with our own eyes. And I implore my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, who continue to fund the continuation of separation of children and the continuation just of the same cycle.

I can tell you agents took me aside, two of them, and said, throwing money at this is not going to fix it. Stop. The separation policy needs to end. This is not what we were trained to do.

They said, Congresswoman, do you know, we're not social workers, we're not medical care workers? We're being told to do this. No, we're here to protect the border. This is not what we feel like is protecting the border.

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They don't want to be put in this condition. And these are officers of the federal government. These are folks that the president needs to also be protecting.

But also, and more importantly, listen to them. They're on the front lines. And I can tell you, when you go there, they were prepared for us to come. So, yes, I may not have smelled certain odors. But when we finally were able to have access into the cell-like, jail-like facilities, you spoke to people, real people, that deserve to go through the legal process.

I mean, some have come here for asylum, and we are not giving them the fair justice, their due process to doing that. That's what we're doing. We're ignoring the law. It's becoming so lawless, so chaotic at the border.

And this president needs to realize this is not a lawless country. You're not a dictator. You have to follow the asylum laws.

And, Wolf, it goes to the point of even when we were there, even touching the women broke them down to tears. That's how much they have been demonized and dehumanized. Looking at a father eyes holding his 8-year-old and 14-year-old, just

terrified that he's going to be separated from them.

BLITZER: It's an awful, awful situation.

As you know, ProPublica released their report on a secret Facebook group of Border Patrol agents, current and former, just before your visit. That report showed very disturbing sexist and racist comments.

The acting secretary of homeland security, Kevin McAleenan, he's vowing to investigate right now. But how do you think Customs and Border Protection should address these really concerning Facebook posts, for example, and the underlying attitudes?

TLAIB: Out in public, in a committee hearing, with the co-equal branch of the United States Congress.

We do this in closed doors, it's not going to get fixed. Wolf, when we walked in, right when we walked in, before we even got to the jail- like, to the actual families that were being in our care and being detained, I can tell you right now, right away, one of the agents took a selfie of my colleague, Ocasio-Cortez, and just shockingly took some sort of selfie without us knowing, noticing.

And we noticed right away. I knocked on the door. I said, did you just take a selfie of her? I mean, she did this inappropriately. I mean, she's a federal agent. And beyond protocol -- that was not protocol.

And do you know, I mean, she did this in front of her superiors, Wolf. She did this in front of people that are literally who she reports to. They begin to laugh.

The tension was very, very high. I can tell you, I found out about the Facebook page within probably 20 minutes. We were driving in from the airport to the first facility that we went to, El Paso, what they call Station One.

And as we were walking in, I mean, I was -- I was trying to hold my breath, trying to breathe, but I was holding my breath. I didn't realize it until we got in, because I thought to myself, I'm among people that may have threatened my life.

I didn't go through the Facebook page. But I can tell you, tensions were very, very high. But I can tell you also the couple agents that have taken me aside were imploring me to please report back what's happening here, because they don't want any part of it anymore.

And they do actually feel like it's making us less safe, because they're not at the border. They're there. In their eyes, they're not social workers. They're not supposed to be watching over 4 -- I met a 4-year-old, some 9- and 10-year-olds, that these are not agents that are equipped to taking care of them.

And throwing money at it is not going to fix it. And Mr. President needs to -- he needs to stop tweeting and actually fix this issue. BLITZER: I understand, Congresswoman, that the scene outside that

facility in Clint, Texas, was very contentious.

I want to play a portion of your comments. And you can hear protesters trying to drown you out. Watch this for a sec.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TLAIB: We are putting America first, not hate! So, you all can yell and scream. But what we saw today, what we did today is try to bring the eyes and ears that you all can't have when we go into these facilities.

I will outwork your hate. I will out-love your hate. I will always put my country first, unlike what you all do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Congresswoman, what exactly were they yelling at you?

TLAIB: Well, I mean, they were yelling Islamophobic hate rhetoric, things that I don't want to be -- want repeated.

I can tell you it was very un-American. These are individuals that were in the crowd. They have every right to be able to -- I mean, we have a country that you're allowed to do that. You're allowed to -- unless you're threatening any violence, you're allowed to be there.

And at the same time, it was a reality check for me and I think many of our colleagues just how much the hate from the Trump administration has seeped into communities, especially communities of color like El Paso, Texas, which is very diverse.

You hear this constant dehumanization kind of rhetoric of the othering that happens when you're among people that are spewing out just very hateful, painful rhetoric and slurs that you don't want your children or anybody exposed to.

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I can tell you, I got very angry when they attacked some of the members there. The things that were said were so volatile. It just made me very proud that I least am able to serve in the United States Congress very proudly.

But I also felt very much the truth was on our side. When we went there, nothing could erase what I saw or any of my other colleagues saw. What we saw was inhumanity. It was immoral, what our country is doing.

We're creating a generation of children who will never forget what we did to them. No amount of apology will ever fix this. And we, as American people, we need our members of Congress to go in there to seek out the truth.

And we came out to tell the truth. The truth was, that's what we saw. We -- I mean, if it wasn't for Congressman Castro and others seeking some photos and information, I mean, many of us, we really were told, don't talk to them. Don't take any photos. We were very, very much trying -- they were trying to isolate us from even having any direct contact.

But for the courage of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley -- I remember Norma knocking -- many of us were very eager to say, no, we want to speak to them.

Even Congresswoman Escobar pleaded and said, wait, I have been able to speak to some of the detainees. Why can't we speak with them today?

Well, as soon as the members of -- the officer didn't follow protocol themselves, we said, well, why should we also follow your protocol? We're going to be able to -- we want to be able to speak to the people that were under our care and those that don't ever -- won't ever have access to a congressional hearing.

That's why we're there. We're there to be the people's eyes and ears and to be able to report back exactly what is happening from within.

BLITZER: I know you got to run, but did you ever feel physically threatened?

TLAIB: I don't -- I didn't feel physically threatened.

I felt very much tension. I felt at one moment a tremendous amount of anger with the stares. Some of those men and women were not very happy that we were there.

I mean, these are agents that I think are under a lot of stress, but no excuse for their immoral and inhumane and just their character and how they proceeded to laugh and jokingly think that this was also very funny.

And it's -- it wasn't. This was horrifying to be able to see something like this. And, sometimes, Wolf -- at one moment, I looked, and there was a gentleman there. He was only there for one week, an agent.

And I said, you just got here? He said, yes, just came back -- came from New York, was pulled in. And you can see, he was in a situation he didn't want to be in. And I thought to myself, maybe the others just became more numb to it.

Maybe the others had to justify being part of something so -- so ugly and so hard to be part of in separating families like that.

I mean, to have a little 4-year-old come to you at the glass door, just a beautiful child, I was trying to play with him, trying to connect with him. They wouldn't let us speak to the children directly.

And you can see, as he slid a little board to me underneath, wanted me to write something. And he kept asking me where his papa was. I don't know how these agents take it every single day. And I'm

wondering if they become numb to it. But I also know, deep within, there is a culture of racism. There's a culture of anti-immigrant hate rhetoric that has been allowed to fester from within.

And it was very evident, Wolf, their stares that, oh, that's the one. That's that member of Congress of Muslim faith, the one who's been calling out the president for many of his impeachable offenses.

But you felt that kind of tension and that kind of anger towards you as you walked through the halls of the detention centers.

BLITZER: But I just want to be precise, Congresswoman. Some of these agents were actually laughing at you and your colleagues in this congressional delegation?

TLAIB: They were laughing through the window at us after we were very upset that some of them were taking photos.

BLITZER: You would think they would be showing some nice significant respect for members of Congress who come to the scene to try to find out what's going on.

It's an awful situation, I think everyone agrees.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for what you're doing.

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TLAIB: Thank you.

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