Dem senator nails DHS Sec for claim children aren't being held hostage but 'maybe they can pass some of the stuff we want'

After a tense press conference Monday in which Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, tried to justify the administration's policy of separating kids from their parents at the border, Sen. Amy Klobucher (D-MINN) appeared on MSNBC's "Meet the Press" to criticize the White House's apparent strategy.

"The thought that kids are being ripped from mother's arms is beyond belief," Klobucher said. "In contrast to what the Homeland Security secretary was saying, they could change the policy, they choose not to."

Sen. Klobucher debunked a number of Nielson's arguments and pointed to a slew of hypocrisies.

For one thing, when CNN reporter April Ryan asked Nielsen if the kids were being used as pawns in political games, Nielsen denied the charge. Yet, soon after, Nielsen blamed child incarceration at the border on Congress.

"The point is that in one breath she was saying, 'Oh, it's not -- we're not holding them hostage.' But in the other she was saying, 'Maybe they can pass some of the stuff we want.'"

"I am tired of hearing that it's the Democrats who are doing this," Klocbucher said, noting that Democratic lawmakers have worked hard to come up with meaningful immigration reform.

"I don't think we are going to do anything while he is holding children hostage," Klobucher declared.

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