Democratic Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar talked over Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday as she tried to refute her assertion that President Donald Trump’s administration deported children who are U.S. citizens.
News outlets reported that the Trump administration deported three American children in April, but government officials said that their two mothers made the choice to bring their kids back to Honduras with them, according to The Washington Post. Escobar suggested during a House Appropriations Committee hearing that the deportations were not conducted properly, but Noem defended the administration’s policy.
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“I’d like to now focus on U.S. citizens who were deported. In fact, three children so far, likely more children. One of those children with cancer who was deported without the medication necessary to address that child’s cancer,” Escobar said. “Again, a U.S. citizen. The lawyers have said the family was not given an opportunity to make plans for the kids, and so they were deported essentially, again, U.S. citizens.”
“The specific cases that you’re referencing with these children, it was the parents’ choice to take their children, which it is the policy of the Trump administration to keep families together,” Noem responded as Escobar talked over her.
Radio host Charlamagne Tha God criticized the corporate media in April for inflaming public opinion over the deportations involving the children, suggesting their framing amounted to “rage bait.”
“I do think when the media have that conversation, we can’t rage bait though. Because, you know, every time they say it, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, a 2-year-old got deported, a three-year-old got deported.’” Charlamagne said. “But they’re not telling the whole story of — their parent was here illegally, and so the parent got deported, and so they sent the child with them.”
“Because when I hear it, I’m like, why the hell would they deport a 2-year-old? Why would they deport some child with cancer? But then there’s a whole other story that goes with it,” he continued. “The only reason I think that, you know, media should be completely honest and tell the whole totality of the story is because that’s when people, you know, label things fake news.”
Charlamagne also said he would expect parents to want to take their children with them if they face deportation. Moreover, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin made a similar assertion to the Post.
“It is common that parents want to be removed with their children,” she told the outlet.
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