Former Trump Official Says ‘We’re All Going To’ Die When Asked About Man Who Died in ICE Custody
Former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli told CNN anchor Jake Tapper, “We’re all going to” die on Tuesday after being asked about the death of a 75-year-old man in ICE custody.
“Immigration officials have confirmed the death of a 75-year-old man who came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1966,” said Tapper during an interview with Cuccinelli on CNN’s The Lead. “According to the Miami Herald, the man did time 40 years ago for a marijuana bust. His family told the paper that he turned his life around. He was detained last month, even though he had a heart condition. He died in ICE custody. The Herald, the Miami Herald reports that he’s the fifth detained person to die in ICE custody in Florida this year.”
Tapper then asked, “What are the best ways to prevent incidents like this from happening?”
“Well, I mean, he is over 75, so there’s a certain statistical aspect to this,” replied Cuccinelli, who served as acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the first Trump administration:
Nobody wants people to die, but we’re all going to, and, you know, we’re literally talking about a population of 10 to 20 million illegal aliens, and, you know, as they come into the process, they do get medical reviews if they’re going to be detained long term, and, you know, this person died while he was in detention. You know, I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s not like you can just decide that on the doorstep of somebody you’re picking up. There has to be a process for that, there is a process for that, but that doesn’t mean ICE is going to be able to predict who’s going to pass away in detention. A better approach for ICE is to minimize the touch time for these folks. So from the point you pick them up to the point you deliver them home, you want to minimize those numbers of days. You want to minimize the transfers in achieving that so that they go from what was their place of residence in the United States, even though they are here illegally, to their home as quickly as possible, and that pipeline needs to be built bigger.
President Donald Trump’s current border czar Tom Homan made similar remarks on Monday after being asked about the death of the same man in custody.
“I mean, people die in ICE custody. People die in county jails. People die in state prisons,” said Homan. “What the question should be is how many lives does ICE save because when they go into detention we find many with diseases and stuff that we deal with right away to prevent death.”
Watch above via CNN.
