Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) Discusses Immigration Raids Targeting Thousands To Begin Sunday
BERMAN: In just a few hours, the House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the treatment of migrant children separated from families at the southern border. This comes as the Trump administration is set to conduct deportation raids in 10 cities beginning this Sunday. Joining me now is Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd. He represents a district that covers much of the state's southern border with Mexico. Congressman, thank you very much for being with us. On these raids, first. Homeland Security officials told "The New York Times" that the Trump administration's goal is to use the operation as a show of force to deter families from approaching the southwestern border. Do you think these raids will be an effective deterrent?</s>REP. WILL HURD (R-TX): Only time will tell, right? Ultimately, there's about a million people in the United States who have gone through immigration courts and have been found that they don't have standing to be here in the United States, all right? And so, those are allegedly the folks that are going to be targeted. What I would like to see is those resources within ICE to be used at the border. There are a number of people that have recently come in that could ultimately be deported. And I think the bigger effect would be address the people that have come most recently in, not folks that have probably been here for over 625 days. We should be enforcing our law but we are still dealing with a crisis along the border, and we should have those ICE resources dealing with that immediate crisis.</s>BERMAN: So you do not think that these raids -- again, scheduled for Sunday -- targeting some 2,000 migrants are the most effective use of government resources?</s>HURD: I think there's other ways that would help us resolve the current humanitarian crisis that we're dealing with. But again, time will -- time will tell what impact this has. What we should be focusing on are root causes, as well --</s>BERMAN: Right.</s>HURD: -- which is violence, lack of economic opportunity, extreme poverty in the Northern Triangle. We should be going after human smugglers because these are the folks that are bringing folks through our country. We have a lot of information on them. We should be using that information in order to -- giving that stuff to the CIA, the NSA to dismantle those human smuggling networks that are -- that are in Mexico and throughout the rest of Central America.</s>BERMAN: Officials say that they will also collect migrants who may not be targets of these raids and to conduct collateral deportations if they find people who might be near their targets. Is that something you approve of?</s>HURD: Look, I ultimately believe you should have a valid reason for being in this country and we should be using our resources in the most efficient way possible. And I think right now, that's along the border. There is that hearing today in Congress to talk about the detention of children and we've already seen Border Patrol, itself, has had a number of I.G. reports that have said those facilities are not housed for people and here's what's happening because ICE and HHS don't have the resources to process people. That has turned Border Patrol into being in the detention game. That's not what they're designed for. And so, if we alleviate that bottleneck with ICE that is going to make sure that we don't have people in facilities that really shouldn't be in those facilities.</s>BERMAN: I want to ask you what you want to hear at these hearings today as the House Oversight hearing. And we're going to hear from, among other people, the inspectors general of the Department --</s>HURD: Yes.</s>BERMAN: -- of Homeland Security and HHS. I just want to throw up -- before you answer that question -- some of the things you purpose. You want a special representative for the Northern Triangle -- this is El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala -- to deal with the conditions there driving people north. Also, dismantle smuggling rings, more immigration judges, and also change the asylum process. But what do you want to hear today from these officials?</s>HURD: Well, ultimately, I don't think there's going to be anything we hear in this -- in this hearing today that we haven't already heard. Most of them are inspector generals who have already issued their reports. They can go into it a little bit deeper. The I.G. from DHS has been issuing those reports. I'm sure some of my colleagues that are testifying on that are going to suggest dismantling DHS and things like that. Those are not things that are helpful. The people that I would love to hear from are senior officials within ICE, senior officials within HHS to talk about why they are a kink in the process and what they need for those resources. I would love to have the State Department come in and talk about what is the plan to marshal all of our different aid programs from USAID and OPIC and State Department to address those. And I'll be asking in intelligence hearings of the NSA and CIA and FBI everything that they're doing in order to counter human smuggling. These are the kinds of things that I want to hear --</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>HURD: -- but unfortunately, I don't think you're going to hear that today at this hearing on Oversight.</s>BERMAN: I want to -- I want to ask you one political question. It has to do with the former House Speaker Paul Ryan and the current President of the United States, Donald Trump. Paul Ryan had some critical comments in this new book that's coming out next week, suggesting that President Trump didn't understand government. The president responded overnight, lashing out on Twitter, saying that the speaker (Speaker Paul Ryan) had an "atrocious record of achievement" and was a "long-running lame duck failure." Is that how you view the Paul Ryan speakership?</s>HURD: Well, I've enjoyed getting to know Paul Ryan and working with him. He is somebody that was instrumental in helping me be successful up here in Washington, D.C. He was someone that I found incredibly intelligent and tried to listen to all of the members of his conference. And he has been serving his country for most of his adult life. So, I haven't read the book or seen the comments that you're speaking of but my opinion of Paul Ryan is a -- is a public service -- public servant who has cared about his country.</s>BERMAN: Congressman Will Hurd from Texas, thanks for being with us this morning.</s>HURD: Always a pleasure.</s>BERMAN: Bianna.</s>GOLODRYGA: The congressman and the president disagreeing, I guess, on how they view Paul Ryan.</s>BERMAN: Well, that was interesting. He's the first Republican we've really heard come forward and defend Paul Ryan over the last 24 hours.</s>GOLODRYGA: Yes. We'll see if others do the same.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>GOLODRYGA: Well, we are just minutes away from a new report about the potentially historic storm that's bearing down on the Gulf Coast. We'll bring you the latest updates coming up next.