MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt asked Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan three consecutive times on Tuesday if Jeff Sessions’ new crack down on immigrant asylum is a “Christian approach.”
Watch:
“Jeff Sessions has announced he’s changing the rules for asylum seekers. Those people who are coming and saying that they’re victims of domestic violence will not be able to find asylum here in the United States. Do you think that’s a Christian approach?” Hunt asked.
“What I do know is the asylum laws need to be changed. When some 19-year-old can come here and say there’s a credible fear of persecution, and that 19-year-old is actually a part of MS-13, we’ve got to change our asylum laws,” Jordan responded.
Hunt — who also works as NBC’s Capital Hill correspondent — then posed a scenario where a young woman comes to the United States as a domestic violence victim because previous laws would allow her to apply for asylum.
“I’m saying in a general sense our asylum laws have to change. Because anyone can show up at the border, they’ve been coached to say ‘I have a credible fear of persecution,'” Jordan stated. “Certainly we don’t want any domestic violence victims not getting refuge and safety from that. But what I’m saying is, the asylum laws have to be changed. Everyone agrees with that,” Jordan stated.
But Hunt brought up religion again: “You’re saying that’s the Christian approach to that? … Is it unchristian?” (RELATED: MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt Predicts ‘Open Warfare’ If Jeff Sessions Is Fired)
Jordan explained that America needs “an immigration bill that is consistent with what we told the American people — sanctuary cities need to be changed, E-Verify, chain migration, visa lottery, building a border security wall.”
“Let’s focus on all of those policies that were front and center in the campaign and then we will also deal with the DACA population. Let’s have that kind of bill. That’s consistent with what we told the American people we were going to do if they elected us,” he said.
The host tried and failed for a third time to pin Christianity against laws cracking down on illegal immigration — “I’m still not hearing you argue that it’s a Christian policy, sir.”
“Of course it’s not a Christian policy to say someone who’s being abused, you shouldn’t help them,” Jordan said, adding that “we’ve got to know all the facts and what’s actually happening on the border.”
“They come in and say it and whatever they say they get in, whether it’s true or not,” he continued. “If someone is actually being abused, of course we want to help those individuals.”
Jordan represents Ohio’s fourth congressional district and serves on both the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.