MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Unaccompanied Minors Crossing the Border
Interview
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For more let me bring in Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight, we always get a straight answer out of you. Do you think the 2008 victims trafficking act should be reformed, reversed, repealed, what do we do here Senator?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D) VERMONT: No, I think it`s a good law. As you mentioned it was passed by George W. Bush. The goal of that law is to protect children from sexual trafficking.
And that is something that we in fact should do. So what the law says of kids who are coming from faraway countries, not Mexico and not Canada. They have the right to get a hearing, to see if they are being really exploited sexually or otherwise.
And if so, we can make a decision about what we do with them then. Right now, you know, I know it`s easy to blame everything on the President. The reality is, I think he`s thinking people understand. What you have is a disaster in countries like Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador.
You have gangs, violent gangs killing children in those countries. And parents are sending their kids, where their kids are leaving this violence thinking they have a better shot going thousands of miles away from their home by themselves or being, you know, escorted by coyote types (ph) than staying -- now, think about that for moment.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SANDERS: So what you got is a disaster back there. And we have not an immigration issue Ed. We have a refugee crisis, it is moral issue. What do you do when desperate children go huge amounts of distance away from their homes because they`re afraid of getting killed where they live?
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SANDERS: What do we do? Do you simply shove them back to where they came from? I don`t think that`s what America is supposed to be about.
SCHULTZ: So Senator, do we have to pay attention on what`s happening in other countries that`s created this industry of child smuggling?
SANDERS: Oh, I certainly think we do. I certainly think we do. And by the way, people said, "Oh this is a problem here in the United States, it`s Obama`s fault. Do you know what`s going on in Nicaragua? What`s going on the Panama? It`s the same issue. People leaving Honduras going though those countries.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SANDERS: So, the answer is, how do we work to prevent this crisis in Honduras so that parents can keep their children safety at home?
SCHULTZ: Do you believe this is a good first step? The president wants $3.7 billion for an emergency fix?
SANDERS: You know, whether it`s 3.7 or 3.2 or 4.1 I don`t know. But clearly what we have to do is make sure that children who are on our border are housed in humane ways, not such in dangerous ways, unhealthy ways, into rooms -- overcrowded rooms. So yes, I think what the president is doing is a movement in the right direction.
SCHULTZ: And Senator, the polling on this shows that the American people do want to address this. If Congress had passed comprehensive immigration reform, would it have dealt with this issue?
SANDERS: I think perhaps, to some degree it would have. But Ed, let`s be clearer, you know, I think there are aspects of the immigration reform that would not have dealt with this issue. This is a country like Honduras holding a pot, being run by drug cartels, being run in areas by murderers, children fleeing.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SANDERS: It`s not an immigration issue. This is a refugee issue, of parents and kids prepared to do anything to flee that violence.
SCHULTZ: And we`re seeing political games over this.
SANDERS: And that is really pretty pathetic.
SCHULTZ: OK. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont. Good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much for your time sir. We are waiting for President Obama to speak from the briefing in just a few moments.
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