WASHINGTON (AP) – Trump administration officials are defending last week’s mass immigration raids in Mississippi, including emotional footage of a girl pleading with authorities to let her father go.
Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan acknowledged that video of the 11-year-old sobbing was “emotional” but says the girl was quickly reunited with her mother.
He said Sunday on CNN: “I understand that the girl is upset. And I get that. But her father committed a crime.”
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan acknowledged the timing of the raids was “unfortunate,” coming hours before President Donald Trump visited El Paso, Texas, where a man who told authorities he was targeting Mexicans killed 22 people on Aug. 3. But McAleenan tells NBC the operation had been planned for more than a year.
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