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House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told Trump and his White House that picking on children doesn’t make them look tough on immigration.

Rep. Thompson said on Andrea Mitchell Reports, “The real challenge for us is leadership at the top. Our men and women who are doing a good job along the border need sound, solid leadership. It’s not there, Andrea, and unless his president steps back, gets Stephen Miller and some of the individuals confounding this situation out of the way we’re in serious trouble. I hope what I’m hearing, that this family separation policy is going to be ramped up again — part of the reason we are in this trouble now is somebody had the bright idea that this was being tough on immigration. I can’t see how picking on children makes adults tough. So we have to move forward on this. I look forward to this administration if they’re serious to sit down and talk to our leadership on the house democratic side and say this is what we want, but you can’t do it by tweets. Men and women adults have to sit down and work out our differences.”

Video:

Homeland Committee Security Chairman Rep Bennie Thompson (D-MS), "Part of the reason we are in this trouble now is somebody had the bright idea that this was being tough on immigration. I can't see how picking on children makes adults tough." https://t.co/A5NalSyzxe pic.twitter.com/1BM6Z1Muky

— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 8, 2019

Real presidents don’t pick on children

Rep. Thompson was right. Trump wants to look tough by putting more migrant children in cages. The larger problem for the House Homeland Security Committee is that if Trump puts Stephen Miller in charge of immigration while leaving him as a White House adviser, he is out of the reach of congressional oversight, and that is the purpose of Trump appointing acting department heads instead of full-time nominees that require congressional confirmation.

Trump doesn’t look tough when he rips children away from their parents and puts them in cages. He looks cruel and weak. Trump didn’t learn anything from kiddie prisons fiasco that backfired on him last year.

The president is going for it again, except now it will violate a court order and be against the law.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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