CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Tina Smith

Interview

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[10:18:18] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

And just moments ago, the president wrote this. "#changethelaws, now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration, get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have a strong border security."

Joining me now is Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota.

Nice to have you here. Thanks for joining us. SEN. TINA SMITH (D), MINNESOTA: It's good to be with you.

HARLOW: All right. So on this issue of family separation at the border, you've made it very clear in the last 12 hours you're now calling for DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to step down, to resign. Why?

SMITH: Well, I think there is a reason that Minnesotans and this whole country are transfixed by what we are seeing and hearing on the southern border of our country. We are using cruelty to children as a public policy and that is so wrong. Anybody who has walked into the sanctuary of a church and heard the nativity story knows that this is wrong.

I called on Secretary Nielsen to resign because not only is she implementing this policy on the one hand, but on the other hand, she is denying that it is even is a policy. She has got to resign. She's lost all credibility.

HARLOW: Well, Senator, to her point, I mean, this is not a new policy. This is a policy that was in place under the Obama administration. It's the practice of it that effectively separates children from their parents at the border. And her pushback to that, Nielsen's pushback to questions just like yours yesterday, she said, surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of democracy when the body who makes the laws rather than changing them, meaning Congress, asks the body who enforces laws not to enforce the laws. That cannot be the answer. What is your response to that?

SMITH: Well, my response to that is that this administration announced a new policy, a zero tolerance policy, which results in separating children from their parents.

[10:15:07] And if the president doesn't like this policy, he says it's terrible, then he could change it right now by making one phone call.

Now I want to be clear, if he refuses to do that, which it seems as if he will, we have a bill in Congress., this bill that I'm co-sponsoring with Senator Dianne Feinstein, 49 Democrats have signed on to that. But we don't need that. All the president needs to do is to change this policy that he announced just recently.

HARLOW: This is the Keep Families Together Act that you proposed with Senator Feinstein.

SMITH: Yes.

HARLOW: Also you proposed the Help Children Separated Act that would do such things as make sure parents can call and arrange for their care -- of their children when they face arrest or detention.

You say you have 49 Democrats on board with the Keep Families Together Act. Do you have any Republican support for either of these pieces of legislation?

SMITH: So my bill addresses this challenge that we have in our country right now, which are children with parents who are undocumented, those parents might get caught up in an immigration raid at their place of work and what happens to the children? They are left either at home or maybe at a babysitter with the parent then has no ability to make sure that the parent is safe. Excuse me, that the child is safe.

My bill has 27 Democratic co-sponsors, no Republicans, and I think that's a real shame because this is a problem that is affecting children in our country right now.

HARLOW: So here's what Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has said in response to all of this. He said, quote, "Releasing those who unlawfully enter because they came with children creates a cruel incentive to bring children on the dangerous journey."

He's talking about the catch and release practice that was utilized throughout the prior administration. And really up until more recently. Does he have a point that if you just continue that practice, that it incentivizes traffickers to bring children to the border?

SMITH: Well, our country needs comprehensive immigration reform. There is no doubt about that. But what we have happening now --

HARLOW: But is he right, Senator? Is he right that catch and release incentivizes this dangerous practice?

SMITH: What we have happening right now is we have parents bringing their children to our country, seeking asylum. They're refugees escaping violence. And the fact that what we are doing then is cruelly separating these children from their parents is unconscionable. I believe it is immoral. And that is the immediate problem that we need to fix right now.

HARLOW: I hear that. And I talked about your legislation that would end that. But do you think Senator Rubio, your Republican counterpart, is right that catch and release doesn't work and that it can be dangerous?

SMITH: I think that what we need to do is have comprehensive immigration reform in this country. That is absolutely essential.

HARLOW: Listen to what Secretary Nielsen said just yesterday when she was asked about the conditions under which these children are being held.

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HARLOW: That was her speaking earlier on the day before the White House press briefing to a big group of sheriffs. Have you visited any of these detention centers. Have you seen firsthand the conditions under which these children are being held?

SMITH: I haven't had a chance to visit the detention centers. But my colleagues have and we've all seen the pictures. We have children that are as young as 4 who are in warehouse type situations, in cages with nothing but space blankets, no parents, nobody that they know there, that they can trust. And I don't even understand how parents are going to ever be reunited with these children. That, to me, does not sound like a situation that is good for children.

In fact, I believe that it will cause great trauma. And we've heard from experts in child development that say that these children could be living with the trauma that they're being -- that our government is causing for years to come. That is so wrong.

HARLOW: Very quickly before you go, as a Democrat, in Congress, who can help affect change, what are you willing to give on this? What give will you make to end this practice?

SMITH: I have supported policies and legislation that would enhance our security while also moving forward with comprehensive immigration reform. But the most important thing right now is that we have a crisis, we have a humanitarian crisis, and we can fix it right now by the president making a phone call.

HARLOW: So you will vote for funding for a border wall?

SMITH: I have been clear that I support a strong border. I think a border wall is a -- is a bad idea. But I think that we need to have strong border security. The point, though, here is that we have almost universal agreement that we should not be separating cruelly these children from their parents and that's what we should be focusing on fixing right now.

HARLOW: Senator Tina Smith, appreciate you being with us today, thank you.

SMITH: Thank you very much.

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