ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" - Transcript: Childrens' Immigration Crisis
Interview
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KARL: And, you know, we have this situation regardless even if the flow has cut down they're still coming over. We still have nowhere to really put all the tens of thousands of kids who have crossed over and their families.
So Senator Cornyn, congress got five days until you're about to go on a five week recess, can you really leave town without addressing this issue?
SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R) TEXAS: Well, fortunately it sounds like the House of Representatives is going to move a piece of legislation this week, which would actually offer a solution. And it will include something along the lines Henry and I have proposed.
But what I'm worried about is...
KARL: But the Democrats still oppose, right?
CORNYN: Well, in the Senate, Senator Reid is -- still opposes our proposed solution.
But, John, my view is a solution beats no solution every day. And nobody has offered an alternative, so I hope we will act.
KARL: And including money to help deal with these kids while they're here.
CORNYN: Sure, I think the House will come with skinnied down bill in terms of money, but look, couple it with a policy which will actually solve the problem. And that sounds like what the House is going to pass what they hope the Senate will take up and pass as well.
KARL: And yet, Congressman Cuellar, so you've joined with Senator Cornyn here, the only kind of bipartisan approach to this, which includes changing that 2008 law that puts a different between the kids coming from Central America and those going to Mexico. The folks coming from Mexico can go back immediately, those from Central America get to go through -- have to go through a whole different process.
And yet you're virtually alone among Democrats up there.
CUELLAR: Well, actually the American public wants us to have an orderly border. Right now they're not seeing -- they're seeing chaos at the border, number one.
Number two, keep in mind that President Obama on June 30 sent a letter asking for money and a policy change.
Secretary Johnson has done a real good job. He's been steady among all this political pressure and he's stayed on. So there are other Democrats that do support this.
KARL: No, but Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, the Democratic leaders, most of the rank and file, I mean they're not running and joining you on this on The Hill.
CUELLAR: Well, again President Obama requested this at the beginning. Secretary Johnson has been good, but again I represent the district, I don't just go down there once in awhile and see what's going on, I live there.
42,000 of the unaccompanied kids out of the 42,000 out of the 58,000 have come through that small area. So we're at the epicenter. And we've been working with the men and women at the border patrol, the folks in the community have been dealing with this on a day to day basis. We need the resources and we also need a policy change.
KARL: OK, we heard on Friday the White House talking, we heard in Jim's piece talking about this idea of screening some of these children and presumably their family as well in Central America to see if they would be eligible for refugee status and then bringing them into the United States legally.
Hillary Clinton in an interview with Jorge Ramos on Fusion seemed to endorse this idea as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We should be setting up a system in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador to screen kids.
If we don't have a procedure it's not going to stop. More kids are going to come...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: So, Senator Cornyn, what do you think of this idea?
CORNYN: Well, this is a standard procedure now that if you want to seek refugee status you can show up at an American consulate in country, but that's not going to stop the magnet and really the business model that the cartels have created to exploit this vulnerability in the 2008 law.
This is making them a lot of money. And it's subjecting these children and other immigrants to horrific conditions as they travel from Central America to south Texas. And they know the president has said the vast majority of them will not be able to stay, but we simply have now no consequences associated with coming into the country outside of our legal system. And we need to return that. That's why this bipartisan bicameral legislation that Henry and I have offered offers the only real solution.
KARL: Well, we'll see if you guys can actually get something done in the next five days before heading out on recess. We'll -- you're optimistic. We'll see if that comes true.
Senator Cornyn, thank you very much. Congressman Cuellar, thank you.
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