CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Joaquin Castro

Interview

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ACOSTA: And you heard the secretary there say at the end of the interview that he is traveling down to the border to assess that situation unfolding in Del Rio, Texas.

In the meantime, let me bring in Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro. Congressman, before I get your reaction to the secretary's comments, as you know, this is just the latest humanitarian crisis that has hit the U.S. immigration system in recent years. There's been little movement on the policy side.

How do you explain this inaction to the American people as they witness scenes lie this? They seem to repeat themselves over and over from time to time. And Congress has not been able to pass meaningful immigration reform and get it signed by a president of either party.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Well, you're right, Jim. I mean, we've seen this happen around El Paso, McAllen, Brownsville where you've had encampments along the border, not to this size perhaps, but we've seen it in the past where there are thousands of people that are in squalid conditions and waiting to make their asylum claim.

And the folks coming from Haiti are coming from a country that even in the last few months dealt with natural disasters, a hurricane, an earthquake, their president was assassinated. So, these are people that are fleeing a very, very desperate situation.

And when it comes to immigration reform, the Congress came close in 2014 when the United States Senate passed with 68 votes comprehensive immigration reform, but the speaker of the house refused to put it on the floor for a vote.

So, the next two months in Washington are going to be very important to finally get immigration reform done through the budget process. And the stakes are very high for everyone.

ACOSTA: And, congressman, I know you've criticized these Haitian deportation flights, 50 Democrats have signed a letter opposing them. We just heard Secretary Mayorkas defend those actions. I'm guessing you heard part of that interview where he did that.

What's your response to that? The secretary seems to be saying that they're assessing the situation in Haiti and that they're confident that this deportation process can be handled humanely. What do you think?

[17:04:52]

CASTRO: Well, I know that the administration is working in earnest. They're working very hard and they've made a decision that they think is best. And, you know, many of us just disagree. We come out on the other side of it. I think these are folks who could be -- who many of whom have relatives in the United States.

They could be accepted and be allowed to be in the United States while their asylum claim is processed. Some folks worry about COVID. Obviously, that's why the Title 42 expulsions were being done. But if it's a matter of protecting American citizens from anybody bringing in COVID, you could easily vaccinate everybody that you're allowing to wait here and have their asylum claim processed.

And so we believe that there are practical ways to handle it and make sure we are following both U.S. and international law and that we're doing the most humane thing.

ACOSTA: And what is the explanation you're getting from the administration as to why they're not going in the direction that you'd like to see that you and your colleagues would like to see it go?

CASTRO: Well, I believe that they still think that there is an issue with COVID. I think that they also feel that the volume of people that would be, you know, that they would have to essentially accept because now there's been a backlog since the Trump administration might be overwhelming.

And so look, there are real practical considerations there, but we also have the resources to handle that, to make sure that we handle this as humanely as possible. And like I said, these people are fleeing a situation where you had two natural disasters in the last few months, and their president -- their president got assassinated, destabilizing the country. And so if you're going to send folks back to that, that's a very, very dangerous and risky situation for them.

ACOSTA: And what about President Biden in all of this? Does he need to step it up on this issue of immigration? Do you think he needs to visit the border in this circumstance to get that kind of, I guess, eyeball on the situation down there, on this crisis down there?

CASTRO: Yes. Remember, with President Biden, this was literally in his first day in office was the first issue that he took on. So, it's obviously an issue even though I may have some disagreements here and there. It's an issue that the administration takes very seriously.

And so it wouldn't surprise me if at some point he does visit the border. Secretary Mayorkas has been there repeatedly. Others in the administration as well. And the president is being apprised and briefed on what's going on as well.

ACOSTA: And your state's Republican Governor Greg Abbott implemented a hardline immigration resulting in roughly 1,000 border arrests per month since March. Last week he ordered six points of entry to be closed. Have those policies factored into this do you think?

CASTRO: You know, Governor Abbott, unfortunately, most of what he's done has been posturing, political posturing. He's facing two Republican primary opponents including Allen West in the Republican primary. So he's trying to move as hard right as he can. And he is trying to use, you know, this age-old tactic of scaring people about black and brown immigrants coming to the United States.

You know, and the people of Del Rio where -- the area where we're talking about are great people, and that really is -- you talk about immigrant communities. That is an immigrant community mostly of Mexican-American immigrants who have settled there over the years. So they're wonderful people, but they're having the governor try to pour gasoline all over a situation that's already tense, right.

In any community, if you had 12,000 or 13,000 people, you know, right outside of it or under a bridge, of course everybody would be tense about it and wondering what's going on and what are you going to do with folks. But the government in his rhetoric and often in his policies is only making it worse.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Joaquin Castro, thanks so much. As always, we appreciate your insights and joining us this afternoon. See you again soon.

CASTRO: Thank you.

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