MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Top pediatrician describes "dog cages"."

Interview

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O`DONNELL: "The Atlantic" carries this account of one pediatrician`s experience with children in federal custody in McAllen, Texas. Inside the border patrol warehouse on Ursula Avenue, Dr. Dolly Lucio Sevier saw a baby who had been fed from the same unwashed bottle for days. Children showing signs of malnutrition and dehydration and several kids who in her medical opinion were exhibiting evidence of psychological trauma. At Ursula, the children Dr. Sevier examined were totally fearful, but then extremely --but entirely subdued. She could read the fear in their faces, but they were perfectly submissive to her authority. I can only explain by trauma because that is such an unusual behavior, she said. Dr. Sevier had brought along Mickey Mouse toys to break the ice. And the kids seem to enjoy playing with them, yet none resisted, she said, when she took them away at end of the exam. At some point, Dr. Sevier mused, you are broken and you stop fighting. Joining our discussion now is Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. She`s a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and she has visited some of the detention centers at the southern border. Senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate you being here.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): Thank you, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: And I wonder -- were you as Senator Schumer said today, the Democratic leader of the Senate, about the inspector general`s report. He said, the inspector general`s report and details of a secret border patrol worker`s Facebook group paint a picture of a toxic culture at U.S. Customs and Border Protection that can only begin to be changed by immediately firing and replacing top leadership at the agency with law enforcement professionals who have training and expertise in working with vulnerable populations. Do you agree with Senator Schumer on that?

HIRONO: Yes, of course. I, in fact, had introduced a bill early, along with a number of my colleagues who are very concerned prior to all of these more recent revelations as to the conditions. I had a bill that would provide a minimum level of care for the children in these facilities. And so, these horrific pictures, the trauma that these children are undergoing -- and, by the way, the president saying, oh, they are being better treated and they are experiencing life better , I`m paraphrasing,than what they knew before. So, in that kind of an environment where the president said such things, where is the incentive to improve conditions for the children and these people who are in overcrowded facilities? So, I think it starts at the top and I believe that the president`s antagonistic attitude toward immigrants, to migrants is manifested in the 7,000 or so people who participated in the secret Facebook where they made fun and mocked people who are suffering and people who are dying and also members of Congress who expressed care.

O`DONNELL: The president defended those people by saying our border patrol people are not hospital workers, doctors, or nurses. What`s your reaction to that?

HIRONO: Well, my reaction to that is, obviously, we do not have a basic standard of care. As you heard from Dr. Linton just a little while ago, we need to have professionals there, such as pediatricians who know how to take care of children, who are able to recognize various problems and illnesses that children have. So, these are not the kind of people who are in the facility. So, what we have in these facilities are people who are not trained to do this kind of work or to take care of these groups of migrants.

O`DONNELL: Senator, if the Inspector General of Homeland Security can go into these facilities and take photographs, why can`t members of Congress go in and take photographs?

HIRONO: That is a very good question and apparently the day that the administration does not have a good answer at all. And so, when members of Congress go, we ought to be able to talk to the people, to take pictures and I think that they have a lot to hide as they don`t want us to do that. And by the way, they have not been able to point to any legal or statutory basis on which they are denying these kinds of access to members of Congress as well as to the press by the way.

O`DONNELL: And when the members of Congress come, there is always advanced notice. The facility always knows they`re coming, so they can improve things. The inspector general was conducting spot checks that apparently were unannounced and the inspector general has said, the acting Inspector General has said, she will continue to conduct those spot checks.

HIRONO: I`m grateful for that. And by the way, when the most recent group of members of the House went to these facilities, it`s pretty hard to clean up facilities that are so, so overcrowded. There is no way that you can just move people around so what they saw were terrible enough and those were announced visits.

O`DONNELL: Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

HIRONO: Thank you.

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