CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Delaware Senator Chris Coons

Interview

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BLITZER: Certainly has.

Ed Lavandera on the scene for us on the border with Mexico, thank you.

Joining us now, Senator Chris Coons. He's a Democrat. He serves on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

On Sunday, as you know, the president said when somebody -- I'm quoting him now -- "When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no judges or court cases, bring them back from where they came "-- close quote.

Is that proposal constitutional?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: No, it's not, Wolf. Our president is not a king. He cannot simply wipe away the due process rights of folks once they're in the United States in American detention.

They do have habeas corpus rights. They do have due process rights. That's something that is decided by courts under our Constitution, but not by President Trump.

BLITZER: Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said earlier that just because you don't see a judge, in her words, that doesn't mean you are not receiving due process. Do you buy that?

COONS: I don't buy that.

And I, frankly, think this is where having an independent judiciary that defends the rule of law is an important underpinning of our constitutional order. President Trump may want to spin this issue up further for his own campaign purposes. He may want to describe immigrants in very negative and critical terms.

But he should not be allowed to undermine the rule of law and to suggest that he alone has the ability to decide who does and doesn't get rights and get to appear before a judge before they are removed.

I will remind you, many of the folks who come to this country illegally are seeking a better life for their kids and end up not being able to stay here after a court hearing. Some are presenting with legitimate claims of a fear of persecution, are fleeing violence in another country. And they end up being able to stay here, because they have an asylum claim under international law. That should be decided by a judge, not at the whim of a president or a

political party.

BLITZER: Have you heard any of your Republican colleagues respond specifically to that? Do Republicans need to push back and say that the Constitution wouldn't allow what the president is proposing?

COONS: I do think it's important for my Republican colleagues to clarify, especially since there are so many senators who are lawyers and who understand these core issues.

But, frankly, Wolf, I think Americans get this in their gut, that this isn't the sort of thing that President Trump gets to decide in a tweet. It's been decided over centuries by our independent judiciary, as they interpret and apply the Constitution that is the foundation of our country.

And a lot of what distinguishes the United States from other countries is that we have a rule of law here and it doesn't bend at the whim of any particular president.

BLITZER: Do you trust the Trump administration, Senator, to reunite all of these children, about 2,000, maybe more, with their parents?

COONS: Well, this is a problem of President Trump's creation. And I intend to work with my colleagues here to hold him accountable for using the capabilities of the executive branch to reunite the children, now that he signed an executive order and made public pronouncements that they would end the forceable separation of parents from their children as a cruel tool for their immigration policy.

I think I will simply use the phrase trust, but verify. We will hold them accountable for getting this job done.

BLITZER: The Trump administration is trying to change the court order that prevents these families have being held for more than 20 days. Right now, do you know if families are still being separated as we speak, or if there's been a return to what is called the catch and release policy until the government can overturn that Flores settlement and build enough facilities to hold families together?

COONS: Well, this is a very murky situation right now, Wolf.

That's why I have called for hearings on the Judiciary Committee on which I serve, so that we can have clarity about both the impact and interpretation of this executive order, which flies in the face of a long-settled court agreement that says that juveniles shouldn't be held in detention more than 20 days, and so that we can explore whether there aren't more humane, cost-effective and appropriate means of ensuring that families with children, if released in the United States, pending a future hear, can in fact be made to return for that hearing.

There have been trial programs that have succeed in getting more than 90 percent, close to 100 percent of those who are released in the United States to return for their court hearing on time. And I think that's the sort of thing we should be looking at in the Judiciary Committee.

BLITZER: The defense secretary, Defense Secretary Mattis, is confirming that some of those immigrants are going to be detained on military bases, two military bases in Texas now being prepared apparently for that.

What message does that send?

COONS: Well, the challenge here is that President Trump has moved from -- hopefully has moved from a cruel policy of separating parents from their children as a tool of immigration policy to an approach that says, well, then let's detain indefinitely parents and children together.

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Given how long it takes for an asylum case to be heard here in the United States, it will take months, even years to get the number of immigration judges up, to develop or build a appropriate facilities for this indefinite detention.

And many Democrats, myself included, have been asking whether that is wise or humane.

Let me remind you, despite President Trump's tweets suggesting that Democrats support open borders, that legislation that I co-sponsored and fought for five years ago, legislation I co-sponsored and fought for earlier this year would invest tens of billions of dollars in border security, in responsible paths forward to secure our borders, yet still treat those who come here seeking asylum or refuge humanely and in a way that respects our law.

Democrats are committed to solving this problem. President Trump, in my view, recently has been blowing it up for political purposes.

BLITZER: After a restaurant in Virginia refused to serve the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California said this. Listen.

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BLITZER: What's your response to that?

COONS: Frankly, Wolf, I think our country is strongest and best when we respect each other. I understand how there are folks who have gotten very upset and very

agitated and motivated in opposition to the ways in which President Trump has used the bully pulpit and his Twitter skills to bully people and to marginalize the press and those who might seek rule of law or exercise free speech in this country.

But I frankly disagree with Congresswoman Waters. I don't think we're at our strongest or best whether we simply pay back hate speech with hate speech, when we further inflame disrespect for each other. I think it's important that we try to maintain civility as we also express strongly our disagreement with President Trump and his administration's policies.

BLITZER: Senator Coons, thanks so much for joining us.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

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