Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Will Hurd
Interview
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BARTIROMO: And welcome back to "Sunday Morning Futures" live this morning from the southern border.
That was Senator Lindsey Graham on this program just two weeks ago highlighting the need to reform the nation's asylum laws.
You also just heard from the president, President Trump calling on Congress to close these loopholes.
Texas Congressman Will Hurd joins me now. He is in Washington. His district covers more of the border than any other member of Congress.
And, Congressman, thanks for the courage and leadership to come on this program today, when we are basically showing right up front and personal what is going on here.
Why can't Congress change these laws?
REP. WILL HURD, R-TX: Well, Maria, one, I'm glad you're there and you're showing what's happening along the border. It is indeed a crisis.
We all know, last month, 103,000 people came here illegally. To give your viewers some context for that number, all of last year, it was 400,000 people that came in.
And I really appreciate you highlighting what the actual Border Patrol agents are dealing with and how they are handling their job with care. They often get vilified in the news and in their communities for what they're doing. But they are trying to protect our borders. But they are also treating people kindly.
This is a multifactorial problem, right? And, yes, there are some things Congress can do. There are also some things that we can fix right now within DHS.
We also got to be addressing root causes. The root causes, the reason the majority of these people are coming from the Northern Triangle -- that's El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras -- is because of violence and lack of economic opportunities there.
You know my background. I spent nine-and-a-half years as an undercover officer in the CIA. My hope is we should stop this problem before it actually gets to our doorstep. We should be increasing the amount of intelligence on those kingpin human smugglers that are bringing people here.
It is very hard to get from Tegucigalpa to El Paso. And the people that are that are facilitating this travel...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
HURD: ... the reason we're seeing more people coming is because the kingpin smugglers are learning how to do this even better, right?
So we need to be collecting intelligence on them, stopping it working with those agencies there. I think there should be a special representative in the State Department that works with the Northern Triangle.
This is -- would be a senior ambassador that works -- this is a problem not just for the U.S. and Mexico. This is a problem for all of the Western Hemisphere. Where is the Organization of American States? Where is the International Development Bank on helping us solve these problems.
These are things that we can be doing there. On the ground, right, you're seeing...
BARTIROMO: Yes, but -- yes.
HURD: You're seeing the impact that these Border Patrol agents have.
And Lindsey Graham, in his earlier statement, showed how it's only 90 percent -- 10 percent -- 10 percent to 14 percent of people that apply for asylum only actually get asylum. But we shouldn't be treating everybody who shows up at the border as an asylum seeker.
BARTIROMO: That's right.
HURD: All of them are not claiming credible fear.
Why are the men and women in Border Patrol and ICE being told to handle everybody as if they are an asylum seeker? They need to have something called expedited removal.
And if you trying to sneak in our country, you should be -- and you have three opportunities to apply for asylum, that is -- your motivations are not pure.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
HURD: And you should be deported immediately.
These are some of the tweaks that could happen right now to make sure the men and women in Border Patrol and ICE and CBP have -- are able to continue to do their jobs.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
But, Congressman, just to be clear, and with all due respect, people are blaming you and your colleagues. HURD: Sure.
BARTIROMO: I mean, I spoke with the mayor of El Paso yesterday...
HURD: Yes.
BARTIROMO: ... the Border Patrol agents.
They need a change in these laws, so that all of these people wouldn't be coming here saying, yes, I'm seeking political asylum.
A woman I spoke with yesterday said, well, I really just want really better opportunities for my daughter, so I decided to come.
HURD: Right.
BARTIROMO: Why not go the legal way? We have a structure in place to come to this country...
HURD: Sure.
BARTIROMO: ... and become an American citizen legally.
But, instead, they are doing it and sneaking through.
HURD: Well, Maria...
BARTIROMO: And people are blaming you and your colleagues.
HURD: Right. Right.
BARTIROMO: What are you going to do about it?
HURD: Well, like I said, I have legislation that's already out there to help make sure Border Patrol is getting paid.
I have proposed legislation on dealing with the asylum fix. This is something that Speaker Pelosi is going to have to bring to the floor to get changed.
But there are things that can happen right now. Why did Border Patrol spend 78,000 man hours in hospitals, right, dealing with people?
BARTIROMO: Yes.
HURD: They should be able to use private subcontractors to do that.
I don't want a Border Patrol officer changing a diaper or making a sandwich. I want them actually on the border. And so for every time you see those people that are getting apprehended and basically surrendering to Border Patrol, how many people are sneaking in because our resources are overwhelmed?
I want to make sure that we're not pulling customs officers off the bridge, so that they can facilitate the movement of good traffic back and forth through this country. So, yes, I think there should be an asylum fix.
And that's something...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
HURD: Again, if you have three opportunities to do it, you shouldn't.
And so this is something that there's plenty of us that are trying to work towards this. But, ultimately, it's not our decision. This is going to be the decision of Speaker Pelosi to bring something to the floor to tweak some of those pieces.
BARTIROMO: Well, yes, I think you make a really good point.
By the way, on the idea of food, making a sandwich, when I spoke with some of the migrants yesterday, the last time they ate was a day-and-a-half ago. I mean, they haven't eaten anything.
HURD: Sure.
BARTIROMO: They need everything. They are putting their kids in such an incredibly dangerous situation by having their kids cross.
You mentioned Nancy Pelosi. All we hear out of the Democrats is they want President Trump's tax returns. They want to investigate more on the Mueller report.
HURD: Sure.
BARTIROMO: All this stuff. And you don't hear a peep out of them about the crisis going on at the border.
Next week, you have got William Barr testifying in front of the Judiciary. What's the most important question you're going to ask? Is it all about the Mueller report? What are you expecting to hear from William Barr, real quick?
HURD: Well, what do we expect from William Barr?
I think we have seen it. He's going to give the full unredacted report to Judiciary and the Intelligence Committees. I'm on the Intelligence Committee. I will hear what he has to say.
What I want to be seeing is, how are we developing a counter-disinformation strategy to deal with the Russians, right?
We know -- this is in agreement between Republicans and Democrats. The Russians tried to influence our elections. We're seeing them doing that in other places. But what are we doing in order to try to stop that?
But I agree with you, Maria -- 103,000 people coming into our country illegally almost every month is a real crisis. It's a real problem. We should be -- these are some of -- this is the conversation we should be having up here in Washington, D.C., right now.
BARTIROMO: Yes. We're not hearing about it.
And now we see that immigration is becoming -- very fast becoming the number one issue for the American people going into 2020. We're going to be watching you and your colleagues to see what's done about this, because this is truly horrible, to see these children, the way that they are being treated by their families, forcing them over the border illegally.
(CROSSTALK)
HURD: Right.
BARTIROMO: Real quick, sir. We got to jump. Go ahead.
HURD: Maria, I'm down there almost every weekend. I'm almost down there every weekend seeing this.
And the tax this is adding, the impact this is having on the men and women that are trying to keep us safe, we have to factor that in too as well.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
All right. All right, we will be watching.
Will Hurd, thank you so much, Congressman. We will see you soon.
More live from the southern border when we come right back. Stay with us.
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