Trump administration seeks to scrap the Flores agreement

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Trump administration seeks to scrap the Flores agreement

President Trump looks to close a legal loophole concerning migrant families at the border; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," Auguest 21, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

KEVIN MCALEENAN, ACTING HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: No child should be a pawn in a scheme to manipulate our immigration system, which is why the new rule eliminates the incentive to exploit children as a free ticket. At the heart of this new rule are two core principles, that families should remain together during immigration proceedings, and that conditions for care of children must be appropriate.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: President Obama had separation. I'm the one that brought them together. This new rule will do even more to bring them together.

JULIAN CASTRO, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is another example of this administration's cruelty.

There are ways that we can do this that don't involve detaining people.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: The White House making a new rule when it comes to immigration, specifically migrant families. The White House putting out a statement saying "The government will now seek to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a loophole that results in most alien families being released into the country after 20 days. The decades old Flores agreement is outdated and fails to account for the massive shift in illegal immigration to families and minors from Central America."

The Senate Minority Leader putting out a statement, "The cruelty of the Trump administration knows no bounds. Make no mistake, this new rule is about letting President Trump and Stephen Miller keep children in awful conditions for longer periods of time and continue the administration's horrid treatment of innocent migrant families fleeing unthinkable hardship."

Just to take a look at the southern border and the migration pattern, quickly, and you can take a look at the months here and the families, and unaccompanied minors and single adults. You see the issue there and the total.

Let's bring in our panel: Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon; Susan Ferrechio, chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner, and Mo Elleithee, executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics. Matthew, thoughts?

MATTHEW CONTINETTI, WASHINGTON FREE BEACON: For years coyotes and human traffickers have been exploited the loopholes in our asylum laws that were exacerbated by this Flores consent decree in 1997. This rule is the Trump administration's attempt to rectify that, and in order to bring some standards of care for the children and keep families together, which is precisely what I thought most reasonable people wanted. To describe this policy as cruel is batty.

BAIER: Mo?

MO ELLEITHEE, GEORGETOWN INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: I think -- look, this is going to play out front and center in the presidential campaign, progressives, which this is the kind of thing that is going to fire up the president's base. It's going to fire up the Democratic base in the opposite way.

What I think is going to be really interesting to see is how people react to the fact that this decision keeps children detained indefinitely, and furthermore, eliminates a lot of the protections that they are supposed to receive while they are being detained. We have seen pretty horrific images of the conditions where children who are be detained today are being kept, and we have seen how that is causing some serious problems for the president.

BAIER: I will say, Homeland Security and Border Patrol folks say that they are working on changing those conditions every day and have been over recent weeks as they got funding from Congress.

ELLEITHEE: Right, that's what they've been saying. We'll see if they do it, and I hope that do that. I am not rooting for their failure. But whether or not this administration sees success politically from this decision is going to, I think, depend on whether or not they regain any credibility in how they treat detained children.

BAIER: So how do most voters look at this, Susan? Is it that the president is taking action that Congress won't take, or how do they look at this border --

SUSAN FERRECHIO, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It depends on which voters you're talking about.

BAIER: Yes, true. I guess middle voters?

FERRECHIO: Right. It's great for Trump's base, and of course progressives will define it as cruelty to families and children who are seeking asylum in the U.S. I think independent voters look at this practically, that the migration issue has been a big deal on voters' minds when you look at polls, and that the asylum laws it's generally understood are a magnet for the kind of migration surge we have seen along the southern border. Those numbers you just showed, that graphic really tells the tale. The president has unilaterally acted so far to almost cut in half the number of families seeking refuge at the border by having the Mexican government get involved bringing their troops to the border, and have the remain in Mexico policy keeping those asylum seekers in Mexico.

The president is doing what he said he was going to do despite Congress's inaction, because they are incapable of acting on this for now, I can tell you that. And I think independents who are the key voters here look at this practically. If you look at the poll numbers, immigration is a big deal, and they do understand that the asylum laws and the loopholes there are what's drawing migrants here.

BAIER: Immigration is one of the top issues every time you're asked about issues that matter.

Here is the president on the China trade situation and why he is taking it up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is a trade war that should have taken place a long time ago by a lot of other presidents. Over the last five or six years, China has made $500 billion, $500 billion, ripped out of the United States. And not only that, if you take a look, intellectual property theft. Somebody had to do. I am the chosen one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: He's been holding these impromptu press conferences pretty much every day. You can't say the reporters don't have access. But obviously this soundbite getting a lot of attention.

CONTINETTI: It would have been great if the clouds had parted and a beam of sunlight had come down on the president. He is the first president to take a stand against China. And what is fascinating to me about President Trump is in just two-and-a-half years he has changed the conversation in Washington in both parties on the China issue. Where once we thought of China as a power that was going to have a peaceful rise and be a responsible stakeholder, we now recognize China as a peer competitor who does not have our interests in mind.

BAIER: I saw some online comments. How would we have covered it if Barack Obama turned to the skies and said he was the chosen one?

FERRECHIO: Absolutely. This is all part of Trump's persona. But when he says I am the chosen one, I have been on Capitol Hill a long time. I have been listening to people complain about China in both parties for a long time. Nobody has been willing to act on it. Why? Because look how painful it's been. Yet, look, you have Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying you are doing the right thing, Mr. President. Don't stop on China. That tells you something. They know it has to be done. It's a very painful thing for the Americans to have to experience. But he was the one bold enough to do it.

BAIER: The politics here, obviously there's some folks in the middle of the country feeling the reaction to this, but there's also folks in the middle of the country saying yes, yes, we need to take it to China.

ELLEITHEE: Putting his messianic complex aside, I think your point is exactly right that there are people out there who are feeling this. There are farmers in the Midwest who are feeling this, and they are beginning to get really worried. They don't know whether or not they are going to be able to keep operating a year from now if the current conditions rise. I think a lot of them have given the president the benefit of the doubt. But I think you're starting to hear more and more of them say, I don't know how much longer I can do that. If this doesn't turn around soon, Mr. President, you will lose our support, because we will lose our farms.

BAIER: Panel, thank you.

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