Shepard Smith Confronts Acting DHS Chief on Immigration: ‘Are You in Lockstep Agreement’ With Trump?

Fox News’ Shepard Smith pressed acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAlennan this afternoon about whether he is in lockstep with President Donald Trump on immigration.

Smith first spoke with McAleenan about the federal preparedness for Hurricane Dorian. He said that people should not “get complacent” and warned, “As it heads up to Georgia and South Carolina, we could still face a landfall. Any movement off of that track to the west could be a very different situation…I want people to stay on their toes and be very wary of this storm.”

Smith then brought up immigration and asked, “Are you in lockstep agreement with the president on immigration policy?”

“We’re implementing a broad agenda to secure the border,” McAleenan said, “to address the immigration crisis, and to tighten our immigration enforcement across the board. We’ve issued a number of key regulations that will help us do that and also making big progress on applying border resources at our immediate border, and of course working with Mexico and Central American partners to address this flow, which is really a regional phenomenon.”

Smith again asked if he’s “in lockstep with the president on immigration,” bringing up recent policy changes and saying, “The United States can hold children for more than 20 days with their parents in federal custody. When that rollout happened, you didn’t do it at the White House, but somewhere else. Inside the White House, there was a lot of pushback on the way you handled things. And I wondered if that’s because you disagree with the president on this policy?”

“Absolutely not,” McAleenan responded.

Smith asked if he’s concerned the U.S. is “holding children for extended periods of time.” McAleenan responded, “Children are not waiting at border stations any longer. For family units, right now they’re actually going into the migrant protection protocols, or if they don’t have a claim of asylum being repatriated. The remainder are being released waiting for an immigration proceeding.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.