Chuck Todd to Kellyanne Conway: Sounds Like ‘You Want to Hold Kids Hostage’ to Get Dems to Pass ‘Some Law’

NBC’s Chuck Todd threw cold water on Kellyanne Conway‘s defense of the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants, calling it an effort to hold them hostage to force Democrats into passing legislation.

During a Meet the press interview Sunday, Conway, who serves as a counselor to President Donald Trump, suggested migrant families being divided at the border are suffering because Democrats aren’t willing to devise a workable deal on immigration reform.

“This is a perilous journey for many of these children and if people really cared about them, we would figure out way to get the funding to expand the centers and to close the loopholes,” Conway told Todd. “These loopholes are allowing open border policies. I think what the president is saying if the Democrats are serious they’ll come together again and try to close these loopholes and get real immigration reform.”

“This is going to sound harsh, but sounds like you’re holding the kids hostage to get the Democrats to the table to pass some law,” Todd replied, adding that “the most traumatic thing to do to a kid separate them from their parents once they’ve made that traumatic journey” and that children are being used as leverage in the immigration debate.

Conway, who had given a vivid description of the hardships faced by those who cross the border, both on their journey and upon their arrival, continued to make her case for why the administration’s treatment of them is warranted, noting children are being provided for even if they’re being ripped from their families.

“Nobody is doubting that they’re getting reasonable care there,” Todd said. “The question is, the most dramatic thing to do is taking them away in first place. You don’t have to.”

Continuing her defense of current policies, Conway stated that it’s simply a matter of legality, and since Congress passed a law against illegal immigration, anyone who isn’t in favor of it should change it.

That being said, Todd emphasized that still does not mean families must be divided, and that they could use family detention centers instead.

“We don’t have the capacity,” Conway replied. “Those brave men and women at the border trying to do their jobs as best they can, this is an issue. And if the Democrats are serious and if a lot of Republicans are serious they’ll come together.”

Watch the clip above, via NBC.

[Image via screengrab]

Follow Amy Russo on Twitter: @amymrusso

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