CNN host calls out Conway for claiming Dems use migrant children who died in custody as ‘political pawns’
CNN host Dana Bash called out Kellyanne Conway on Sunday after the White House counselor claimed that Democrats are using two migrant children who died in federal custody “as political pawns.”
“I don’t like some of the Democrats using these deaths as political pawns,” Conway said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to the two children, 8-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonzo and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin.
{mosads}”But isn’t that exactly what the president just did?” Bash responded.
“No the president is not doing that,” Conway quickly rebutted. “The president does not want these children to come on the perilous journey to begin with. They are paying now, some of them are paying the ultimate price but many of them are paying these coyotes who don’t give a whit about human life.”
The exchange happened a day after Trump claimed that “any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally.”
“If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!” he tweeted on Saturday, referring to his demand for a wall along the southern border, which led to a government shutdown earlier this month.
Many Democratic lawmakers voiced outrage over the comments. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said Saturday that the House would hold hearing on the migrant children’s deaths once Democrats take a majority in the House.
Both Gómez and Caal died after being taken into federal custody this month. Gómez died in Customs and Border Protection custody on Dec. 24 after being transferred to a hospital for flu-like symptoms, high fever and vomiting. Caal died from dehydration and shock.
The Department of Homeland Security has said it will change how it handles the health of migrant children.
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