Pelosi tells New York crowd 'violation of status' not a reason to deport illegal immigrants

close

Video

Does Pelosi need to shift Democrats away from impeachment talk to health care?

Former DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile says Democrats can continue efforts to hold the Trump administration accountable and pass significant legislation.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., claimed a "violation of status" was not a valid reason to deport illegal immigrants, during a Speaker of the House discussion on Monday.

TRUMP DELAYS PLANNED ICE RAIDS TO SEE IF CONGRESS CAN SOLVE BORDER CRISIS

Pelosi said she was uncertain of President Trump's plan to fix America's immigration system, but claimed being in the country illegally was not grounds for deportation.

"So, that is really kind of what happened. [Trump] didn’t say what he was going to do but, as the president said, 'oh, I’ll let you know, I’ll let you know.' [He] went into -- 'well, people broke the laws.' A violation of status is not a reason for deportation. That’s just not so," she said.

An ICE official who spoke with Fox News did not address Pelosi's comments directly but pointed to 8 U.S. Code Section 1325 (and 1326 for re-entry), and said anyone found to have violated U.S. immigration laws may be arrested, detained and – if found removable by final order – removed from the United States.

Pelosi also spoke about Trump's proposed ICE raids, which have now been delayed for two weeks to, he said, give Congress additional time to find a solution to the southern border crisis. She called the operation uncivilized and questioned its purpose.

PELOSI FLEXES MUSCLE OVER PARTY IN IMPEACHMENT DEBATE, BUT ‘DAM’ COULD COLLAPSE

"When I saw that the president was going to have these raids—I mean it was so appalling; it’s outside the circle of civilized human behavior to just be kicking down doors, splitting up families, and the rest of that, in addition to the injustices that are happening at the border," she said.

Pelosi claimed legislation was in the works to address the immigration crisis but said there's no point in enforcing existing law within the boundaries of the United States.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Video

"We have legislation to go forward to address those needs, but in terms of interior enforcement, what is– what’s the point?" she added. "Well, I won’t even go into what the motivation might be for that here because this is not a political event."