Biden Adviser: I Don’t Think There’s a Question on How Many Minors We Can Place in U.S., ‘Real Question Is, What Are They Fleeing From?’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” White House Senior Adviser Cedric Richmond said that he doesn’t think that the question is whether there’s any limit on how many unaccompanied minors who can be placed in the U.S., “The real question is, what are they fleeing from?” Richmond also stated, “we’re not going to turn an unaccompanied minor around.”

Host Chuck Todd asked, “Do you believe there is a limit into how many of these unaccompanied minors we can place in the United States?”

Richmond responded, “Well, I’m not sure, Chuck, that that’s the question. The real question is, what are they fleeing from? Two tornadoes, gangs. And we assume — and look, I have a 6-year-old, we assume that it is easy for a parent to make the decision to ship their kid off a thousand or so miles with the hopes that they land in America. Because it’s a better place because they know that if they keep them where they are, they will probably not make it or they will be killed or they’ll die or they’ll end up in human trafficking. That’s the real question. And so, we have to put some real emphasis and the weight of the country into all of those things. Because, look, if they come and they present themselves at our border, we’re not going to turn an unaccompanied minor around. There’s a procedure to do it and that’s what we’re going to do.”

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