CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham
Interview
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[10:45:03] HARLOW: All right. We just heard from House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that tomorrow we will see a vote on the House floor of this Republican, what he calls the compromise legislation that he says would end the separation of families at the border. It would also be a broad immigration overhaul piece of legislation and he says that it would, quote, "solve DACA in a very elegant way."
Joining me now is Democratic congresswoman who will be part of this vote tomorrow, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. She's also the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
It's nice to have you. Thank you for being with me.
REP. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D), NEW MEXICO: Thank you, Poppy. Glad to be with you this morning.
HARLOW: Now that we know that this vote will take place tomorrow will you vote yes for this legislation?
GRISHAM: I will reject both pieces of legislation including the Ryan compromise bill. Two things that are really -- three that are really important for your viewers to know about that piece of legislation. One, it doesn't end the zero tolerance policy which leads to family separation. As long as you have that, you will have family separation. Two, the Cato Institute has reported that 82 percent of Dreamers will not benefit from any of the so-called protections in that bill. And three, it eliminates current legal protections and legal immigration aspects.
This is an anti-legal immigration bill and I am wholeheartedly and I hope all of my Democratic colleagues, and I'm hoping my Republican colleagues will reject this particular piece of legislation.
HARLOW: So, Congresswoman, let's talk about what it does do because as you know in politics you never get everything you want, but this is a humanitarian crisis at the border for these families, for these children. It addresses DACA for 1.8 million people, Dreamers --
LUJAN GRISHAM: It doesn't. I just told you it doesn't.
HARLOW: It does address DACA.
LUJAN GRISHAM: It does not.
HARLOW: It does provide legal protections for Dreamers. It gives $1.6 billion toward wall funding. It also as we just heard Paul Ryan outline, does end the separation of children from their parents at the border. What are you willing to give to get something back?
LUJAN GRISHAM: Well, I already -- my goodness, we have been working since September when the president himself just like separating babies from their parents, he created the DACA crisis. He did that because he's using these issues, these abhorrent aspects in order to get a border wall built which most experts will tell you does not address migrating patterns or folks seeking asylum.
HARLOW: Congresswoman, just back to the question because I don't have a lot of time with you unfortunately.
LUJAN GRISHAM: Yes. Well, that's what I'm saying to you.
HARLOW: What are you willing to give?
LUJAN GRISHAM: So we did --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Are you willing to give --
LUJAN GRISHAM: Yes. Border security. Yes, I answered the question, Poppy.
HARLOW: Let me ask -- the question is, are you willing to give for example --
LUJAN GRISHAM: I'm answering it for you.
HARLOW: Are you willing to give any border wall funding? Anything?
LUJAN GRISHAM: So we have been -- yes. We discussed in the border in the USA Act that it should be evidence-based, 21st century instead of using a fourth century response to border security, make it operational security by 2020. We have long -- every Democrat has been long working and funding Homeland Security and border security measures including in the USA Act which gave a real pathway for citizenship and a real protection for Dreamers. This bill does not do that.
HARLOW: Do you -- we've heard some of your Democratic colleagues calling for Secretary Nielsen, the DHS secretary, to resign including Senator Mazie Hirono. We also heard it from Senator Tina Smith yesterday on this program. Do you think Secretary Nielsen should resign?
LUJAN GRISHAM: I want to answer it in this way and I think everyone will get my answer pretty clearly. I've been an appointed secretary in a state for 18 years. You don't -- you are always transparent. You don't enact child abuse or any other kind of harm to your constituents in any manner whatsoever. You don't say that you're not doing a policy and the next day defend it. She has been inconsistent. She has not been credible. She has not been transparent and she is inflicting direct harm upon children in this country. I don't think that's a person that should be serving the American people in any capacity.
HARLOW: How is she -- what is the direct harm that you argue she is inflicting on these children?
LUJAN GRISHAM: When you -- when you rip a child from their parents who are seeking asylum -- you know, when I was in San Diego visiting the entire process from ports of entry to what happens when ICE gets families that are not coming into ports of entry, because they can't come in through ports of entry, and in fact the system is so convoluted and so terrible about the impact it has on every family seeking refuge in this country, that when a child is taken away and that decision is made by ICE you have children who end up in states far away from the border crossings.
[10:50:02] So if you were picked up in San Diego, your child can end up in Chicago with no way for you to figure out how to reunite or even assure that that's where your child is.
HARLOW: And just -- we have to wrap it up, but given you believe that pain caused to those families and those children and that damage you will not vote --
LUJAN GRISHAM: I saw the pain on those children's faces.
HARLOW: You will not vote yes for a bill that one significant part of it would end that, correct?
LUJAN GRISHAM: I will not vote for a bill that does not end family separation. Just because Speaker Ryan says it does doesn't mean that it does which is why all the organizations that care about children, the Pediatric Academy and Society, the Psychiatric Children's Academy and Society, the Pope, the Catholic bishops, they're all saying this bill doesn't do it.
HARLOW: You are asserting -- it sounds like you're asserting that Speaker Ryan is lying about this. Is that what you're saying?
LUJAN GRISHAM: I am saying that this is -- Speaker Ryan is not being credible or transparent about this bill because he hasn't spent the time on immigration issues in a bipartisan manner. It's a partisan effort and he is only doing that for the White House.
HARLOW: Congresswoman, we have to leave it there. I appreciate you being with us today. Thank you.
LUJAN GRISHAM: All right. Thank you.
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