HHS Sec. Azar: Media Coverage of Government’s Work at the Border ‘Scurrilous’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday’s “The Hugh Hewitt Show” discussed the media coverage of government employees’ work at the border.

Azar voiced his concern with the media’s coverage, saying the media has been participating in “false, scurrilous attacks” against his colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security.

Radio host Hugh Hewitt posed to Azar, “I don’t think the media reflects how hard people are trying, but they are just overwhelmed. Am I correct?”

“Oh, you’re absolutely correct,” Azar replied. “I mean, just for my colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security, the scurrilous attacks and just horrible things said about the professionals at Customs and Border Patrol, and here with, at HHS, we have the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which works on sheltering these kids, the kids who come into the country unaccompanied, by themselves, and these are child welfare workers that run this program, and they’re so dedicated, so passionate about caring for these kids. And then you just hear so many false, scurrilous attacks that undermine the program, and frankly, just make it actually harder to run it, because they scare grantees and others away from being willing to work with us to care for these kids.”

He then added that there are people who are “dedicated” and “deeply passionate” about taking care of the children that show up at the border.

Azar remarked, “Why would you want to get into that work and be subjected to those kinds of protesters and just horrible, horrible language associates with it? And these are dedicated career child welfare people. They’re deeply passionate about taking care of these kids.”

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