Biden Adviser Richmond: We Changed Immigration Policy Before Infrastructure Was in Place ‘Because of Our Values’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House Senior Adviser Cedric Richmond said that the Biden administration is struggling to house migrants because the infrastructure to do so wasn’t in place, and that the administration changed policy before the infrastructure was in place “because of our values. We’re never going to treat children in an inhumane fashion.”

Richmond said, “Look, the infrastructure was just not in place. We just went through four years of a chaotic and immigration — broken immigration system, a very inhumane immigration system.”

BBC Presenter Katty Kay then cut in to ask, “But then why change the policy before you were ready with the infrastructure?”

Richmond responded, “One, because of our values. We’re never going to treat children in an inhumane fashion. So, we’re not pretending or advocating that CBP is the place to hold children. That’s why we quickly try to get them out of CBP custody and move them over to HHS, where we have mental health counselors, we have education, we have health screenings, and then we try to move them as quickly as [possible] into vetted family members’ custody or vetted sponsors within this country. And so, those things don’t happen overnight, but we’re trying to make them happen overnight. And with COVID, capacity is just a different model than what it used to be. But the goal is to treat children in a very humane way, and so, that’s our goal. That’s what we’re going to do, and we’re going to continue to work on this until we get it right.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett