Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia shamed illegal immigrants who cross the southern border with their children and said it was irresponsible of them to put their kids in harms way.
“I think that the message should go to people in central America and elsewhere in the world that there are better ways to apply for asylum in the United States than attempt to come across the border illegally,” Goodlatte said on “New Day” Tuesday. (RELATED: Joe Scarborough Compares Processing Of Illegal Immigrants To Nazi Death Camps)
“Once you leave your country and you’re safe, you’re supposed to apply for asylum in the country that you have immediately entered, not the United States. They travel 1,000 miles across Mexico, they take their children in many instances with them through very dangerous circumstances and shame on parents who bring their children across a desert to try to get in to the United States illegally. That’s just not the right thing to do.”
WATCH:
Goodlatte believes the laws on the books should be changed to keep illegal immigrant families together, but said once you break the law in America your family can’t follow you to jail.
“I don’t think it’s okay to [separate families]. I think the law needs to be changed so that the children can be kept with their parents,” he concluded. “But bear in mind, if you break the law in the United States and you go to jail you’re not taking your children with you … When you get charged with a crime and you’re taking off to jail, you do not get to bring your children with you.”
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