CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Interview with Vice President Mike Pence

Interview

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MIKE PENCE: Good morning, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: A lot to talk to you about on Iran, but, first, I want to ask you about the President's announcement this morning that he has decided to delay the roundup of migrants. Why did the President announce this law enforcement operation?

MIKE PENCE: Well-- well, first, let's-- let's reckon that--we have a crisis on our southern border. We are on track this year to have more than a million people come across our border and for the first time ever the vast majority are families that are bringing children with them to-- to exploit what-- what we understand are loopholes in our asylum laws. I mean if people come across our border, make a claim of asylum, we can detain them for only twenty days and then they're released into the United States. The truth is ninety percent of those claims are denied and the vast majority--

MARGARET BRENNAN: That figure has been disputed.

MIKE PENCE: Well, but the vast majority never show up for their hearing. You know, a year, eighteen months, down the road. So-- so the President is doing his job. We both took an oath to faithfully execute--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --the laws of this country. He set into motion an internal enforcement effort to remove people who've been given due process of law who've been adjudicated through a court order, ordered to be deported. But the President talking with Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats made the decision to delay two weeks and to call on the Congress once again to close the loopholes that human traffickers are using--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that going to happen in two weeks?

MIKE PENCE: --to entice families.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You expect Congress to pass that in two weeks?

MIKE PENCE: Honestly, the-- the-- the President and I believe it could happen in fifteen minutes. If Democrats in Congress will simply step up and agree to close the loopholes that we know human traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable families.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But why did the President announce a law--

MIKE PENCE: Add to that more humanitarian assistance on this overwhelmed system--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --enforcement operation?

MIKE PENCE: --and we can solve the crisis.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You've lost the element of surprise because he announced the law enforcement operation. And that's why many are saying this is purely for political reasons that the President would announce rounding up of migrants.

MIKE PENCE: Everyone that the President said that we're going to identify and arrest and deport have already gone through the legal process.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: But-- but that being said it's-- it's just essential that Congress step up. I mean the-- the President declared a national emergency; we're already building the wall on the southern border, we'll have four hundred miles built by the end of next year.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: But we recognize this new crisis of families coming up the peninsula taking the long and dangerous journey north at the hands of human traffickers often-- often subject of violence and-- and worse on the journey north.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about that.

MIKE PENCE: We only saw that by more humanitarian assistance for the customs and border personnel--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --that were doing their job every day. And by closing the loopholes that human traffickers--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well--

MIKE PENCE: --are using.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --but the President's tweeting about rounding people up. He's not tweeting about some of the conditions that have been described as "crisis level" in the facilities that--

MIKE PENCE: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --the United States is running, not across the border, not people who are out loose in the United States. But in U.S. detention facilities--

MIKE PENCE: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --and there have been details released over the past few days by lawyers who've gone down and looked describing, "Children sleeping on cold floors," "filthy," "lice outbreaks," "flu outbreaks," "not in any way safe and sanitary conditions." Is that acceptable, and what is the White House going to do since, as you say, Congress is doing nothing. What are you going to do?

MIKE PENCE: Margaret, it's-- it's totally unacceptable. But the American people deserve to know that our dedicated Customs and Border Patrol agents are, literally, being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of people coming across our border to take advantage of loopholes in our laws. But-- but it's--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm. So what are you going to do about it at the executive level?

MIKE PENCE: Well--

MARGARET BRENNAN: If you say Congress is not--

MIKE PENCE: Well, let me be clear--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --what are you going to do?

MIKE PENCE: --when-- when the President declared a national emergency earlier this year we were asking Congress in January to give us more bed space. Democrats in Congress refused. Congress continues-- although Speaker Pelosi has indicated a willingness to look at-- at a bill that would provide more humanitarian assistance. Over the next two weeks we're going to look to get those resources as well as close the loopholes. But, look, we've-- we've asked for more bed space, we've asked for more support. Our Customs and Border Patrol agents are doing a-- a job, but the system is overwhelmed. And--

MARGARET BRENNAN: And the Homeland Security Secretary has sat here in-- in your spot and said this, "crisis levels," for a year.

MIKE PENCE: It is. It is.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So how is the executive totally powerless to do anything about these unsafe, unsanitary conditions?

MIKE PENCE: Well, we're-- we're-- we're-- we're doing a lot with what the Congress has given us. But, again, Congress refused to increase the bed space in the last appropriations bill. They continue--

MARGARET BRENNAN: So--

MIKE PENCE: --to--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --so--

MIKE PENCE: --to delay efforts--

MARGARET BRENN: --we just have to accept these conditions--

MIKE PENCE: --on additional humanitarian support.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --that are being described here?

MIKE PENCE: No, absolutely not. It's one of the reasons why the President's taken the strong stand that he's taken on the crisis on our southern border. That's why the President took the strong stand that he took with Mexico just a few short weeks ago.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: He told the government in Mexico we're going to start imposing tariffs starting at five percent on all goods coming into the United States unless Mexico steps up.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but this is within U.S. borders--

MIKE PENCE: I was in those-- yeah, Margaret--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --that we're talking about.

MIKE PENCE: --I was in those negotiations with the Mexican delegation, the secretary of state and our team. And, as we speak, Mexico is deploying six thousand troops to their southern border. And for the first time ever Mexico is taking back one hundred percent of Central Americans--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --who apply for asylum in our country that now-- will now remain in Mexico. We-- we think that's part of the solution. But, ultimately, closing loopholes, getting our dedicated Customs and--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --Border Patrol agents more resources to deal with this overwhelming humanitarian crisis, that's how we address the issue.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

MIKE PENCE: And-- and the President and I are going to continue to stand strong, call on the Congress to do their job. It-- it's amazing to think that-- that-- that Mexico has done more--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --to secure our southern border in the last ten days than Democrats in Congress have done in the last ten years. The American people deserve better. We're going to continue to demand that Democrats--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

MIKE PENCE: --in Congress step up.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, many would say that the people-- those children deserve better who are already in U.S. custody--

MIKE PENCE: They do. I-- I-- Margaret--

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to move on to Iran--

MIKE PENCE: Let me-- just can I say that? I was down at one of the detention centers. It is heartbreaking to see what you see, families that are in these detention centers. What we have--

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, what can you do?

MIKE PENCE: Exactly what we're doing. Human--

MARGARET BRENNAN: You can't do anything more other than--

MIKE PENCE: I-- look, I've been in Central--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --blame it on the Democratic-controlled House?

MIKE PENCE: No. You can demand that the Congress do its job as the President is doing his job.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Why isn't the President tweeting about it? He's tweeting about rounding people up. He's not tweeting about babies without diapers and sleeping on cold floors--

MIKE PENCE: Well-- well, part--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --the details that are horrific.

MIKE PENCE: Look, part of the way that we stem this mass migration that's being driven by heartless human traffickers who are taking five thousand dollars a person to entice vulnerable families to come north. Part of it is making clear--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

MIKE PENCE: --that people will be deported. You know in 2015 when President Obama did a round of nationwide internal enforcement and deported people out of the country, actually, we saw illegal--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --immigration at the southern border go down. What we have to do--

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about Iran.

MIKE PENCE: --we have to do-- we have to secure the border with a wall. We have to close the loopholes. Mexico has to implement the agreement that they've made. But Congress has got to step up. The President is going to continue demand they do.

MARGARET BRENNAN: CBS confirmed that the U.S. has conducted cyber operations to hit facilities in Iran linked to missile and rocket launches. Is this retaliation for shooting down the U.S. drone?

MIKE PENCE: Well, Margaret, as you know, we never comment on covert operations.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Has there been any retaliation for shooting down the U.S. drone?

MIKE PENCE: Well, as-- as I said, I can't speak to that. What I can tell you is that as of tomorrow we expect the President to announce an additional round of sanctions in response to Iran's downing of an American unmanned vehicle as well as in-- in a very real sense in-- in the wake of what was, clearly, Iran's action--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --in-- in attacking two tankers in the straits. But, look, what-- what-- what the President did on Thursday was-- was listen to all of his advisers and-- but at the end of the day the President concluded that-- that seeing the potential of a hundred and fifty people killed in an American airstrike when an unmanned American vehicle had been downed in airspace was not a proportional response. But Iran should not-- Iran should not confuse American restraint with a lack of American resolve. This President's made it clear we are going to protect American forces in the region. We're going to protect American interests in the region and the United States of America will never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Iran says it's going to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium. Is there a red line for the President? That could happen this week.

MIKE PENCE: Well, Iran has announced that, literally, in a matter of days that they're going to exceed--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

MIKE PENCE: --the uranium enrichment limits within the Iran nuclear deal which in-- in our judgment was one of the worst deals this country had ever entered into. You know, I was in the Congress back in 2010 when on a bipartisan basis, we were able to enact punishing sanctions on Iran--

MARGARET BRENNAN: And that is the U.S. strategy at this point--

MIKE PENCE: --their economy--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --is to continue to strangle Iran's economy and it's-- it's devastated its economy, but--

MIKE PENCE: Well, it has, but it-- here's the thing--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --the bigger question is what is the strategy? Because it only seems like Iran's lashing out--

MIKE PENCE: But, Margaret--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --the region is more unstable--

MIKE PENCE: Margaret--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --they are struggling here--

MIKE PENCE: Look, the American people deserve to know--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --so, what is the next step here?

MIKE PENCE: The American people deserve to know Congress, on a bipartisan basis, enacted sanctions. And from 2010 to 2012, even all the way to 2015--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

MIKE PENCE: --they were working. Iran's economy was contracting--

MARGARET BRENNAN: But is that the goal? Just to strangle their economy?

MIKE PENCE: --they were under pressure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I thought the goal was to get to the negotiating table?

MIKE PENCE: What we want to do is stand with the Iranian people, thousands of with-- gather-- gathered outside the White House on Friday, and tens of thousands of which, took to the streets last year in communities across Iran, we want to stand with them to see Iran come--

MARGARET BRENNAN: But how does choking off the economy--

MIKE PENCE: --forward, step into a future and embrace freedom--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --do-- do that? Are you suggesting that the U.S. would do something to support people if they came up to try to throw over the regime I thought the policy was no regime change?

MIKE PENCE: Since the Green Revolution in 2009, the United States has made it clear that we are with the Iranian people. I-- I thought that the President's decision to-- to refrain from a military strike when he learned it could cost a hundred and fifty Iranian lives I hope that sends a message to the Iranian people that while we stand firmly against the Ayatollahs--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.

MIKE PENCE: --we have the highest hopes for the Iranian people. But it-- but it's time for Iran to recognize that the United States of America will never allow them to obtain a nuclear weapon. That would be a threat to our country, a threat to our cherished ally, Israel, and a threat to the world. But if Iran is-- is willing to abandon their nuclear ambitions and end this reign of terror of--

MARGARET BRENNAN: They already have said that they were--

MIKE PENCE: --forty years, well they said it--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --well I want to-- I want to ask you about North Korea before--

MIKE PENCE: But, for forty years, they've propagated terror. They're the leading state sponsor of terror in the world. Those days must come to an end, and America is going to continue to stand, resolved, with the people of Iran for a better future for them.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mister Vice President, thank you very much for joining us.

MIKE PENCE: Thank you, Margaret.

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