White House chief of staff John Kelly defended the Trump administration’s decision to separate families of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in a recent interview with NPRNews.
“Let me step back and tell you that the vast majority of the people that move illegally into United States are not bad people. They’re not criminals. They’re not MS13. … But they’re also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States, into our modern society,” Kelly explained, adding “They’re overwhelmingly rural people. In the countries they come from, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm. They don’t speak English; obviously that’s a big thing. … They don’t integrate well; they don’t have skills.”
The chief of staff continued “they’re not bad people. They’re coming here for a reason. And I sympathize with the reason. But the laws are the laws. … The big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States, and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long.”
The chief of staff’s comments come after the Department of Justice announced its plans to prosecute every adult illegal immigrant caught at the border. Prosecution is a de-facto method of separating families and thwarting catch and release policies that require federal authorities to release detained family units.
“If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you, as required by law,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently declared.