Dem Rep. Castro: We’re ‘Absolutely’ Trying to Avoid Issue of Broader Deportation and Focus on Methods

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) said he and other Democrats are “absolutely” attempting to avoid the larger issue of deportation and focusing on the methods the Trump administration uses.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “So, you just signed on to a letter, alongside dozens of Democrats, asking for a Department of Homeland Security investigation into the conditions at migrant detention facilities. The Bulwark was first to report this and says the letter, ‘represents the latest example of a bank-shot strategy that the party is taking’ — the Democratic Party — ‘when it comes to attacking Trump’s immigration record: avoiding the larger concept of deportation and instead focusing on the brutality and harshness of Trump’s methods.’ Is that an accurate description, you think?”

Castro answered, “Well, absolutely, if you look at what’s going on, Jake, first of all, they’re picking up people off the street. They’re forcing mothers to choose whether to keep kids with them, including a few kids that have had cancer, giving them less than 24 hours sometimes to make that decision. And, at this specific facility in Louisiana, people are not able to talk to their lawyers, oftentimes. They’re not getting the medical treatment they need. And there are huge overcrowding issues. And so, for all those reasons, we were asking for an investigation.”

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