CNN’s Jennings: ‘Every Person Who’s Here Illegally Is in Fact a Criminal’

PHILLIP: You’re describing illegal immigration, which has been around for a long time, as an invasion, which is fine for you if you want to do that, but why is that unusual that there’s a process to go through to deport people? I mean, that’s actually just how the system works.

JENNINGS: Do you know how long it takes for this process, this paperwork to get people out? The guy that we’ve all been weeping and gnashing teeth over the, you know, guy we sent to El Salvador was in the country 14 years illegally.

PHILLIP: But what about —

JENNINGS: We’ve got millions of people who have gamed this system and now —

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLES BLOW, AUTHOR, “THE DEVIL YOU KNOW”: You believe in the Constitution or you don’t. And —

JENNINGS: I believe in the sovereignty of the United States where you don’t.

BLOW: But do you believe in the Constitution?

JENNINGS: I believe in the sovereignty of the United States.

BLOW: So, you don’t believe in the Constitution. And you don’t believe that Donald Trump should abide by the Constitution?

JENNINGS: Of course I do. And, of course, I believe —

BLOW: Do you believe that he does?

JENNINGS: And I believe that he will follow just as he said what the Supreme Court says. But the policy debate is worth having.

BLOW: From the very beginning —

JENNINGS: Millions upon millions of people are here and they will not leave. And he has to get them out.

BLOW: He has always —

MILLS: I agree with you with that —

PHILLIP: Hold on a second.

BLOW: Always. From the very beginning, from 2016, he has believed in executive overreach. We’ve all seen that. He said it. It was clear. Are you saying now that you don’t believe that he believes in executive overreach?

JENNINGS: I believe that he believes his mandate from the American people is to solve illegal immigration. And I would ask you the same question in reverse. Did Joe Biden, when he said he would faithfully uphold and execute the laws of this land, not mean it when he decided to let millions upon millions of people into the country because he did not execute the laws land?

BLOW: I thought that you were going to squirm out of that question.

JENNINGS: I’m not squirming.

BLOW: Yes, you did, and that’s why I prepared for it because I want to read you something. At the core of Trump’s candidacy is a call to for greater executive authority with willful disregard for the constitutional limits placed on our chief executive. Trump especially promises to force individual companies to do things he wants them to do or else he promises punishment to those who displeased him, which appeals to the miserable man at the airport bar. Do you recognize that?

JENNINNGS: Yes, I wrote it.

BLOW: Exactly.

JENNINGS: And here’s the deal.

BLOW: So, what — he hasn’t changed. So, what has changed about you?

JENNINGS: And here’s the difference between then and now. This country has been invaded, the president was elected to —

BLOW: So, you can’t judge me on the Constitution?

JENNINGS: No. My opinion is the president needs to pull every lever he can to solve the illegal immigration.

BLOW: So, you answered that question by saying you already (INAUDIBLE) is unconstitutional.

MILLS: And here’s a question. Do you believe that every immigrant here is the same? You can’t believe that because they’re not.

JENNINGS: Yes.

MILLS: They’re not.

JENNINGS: I do. I believe every —

MILLS: There’s some good, there’s some bad, there’s some criminal.

JENNINGS: I believe everybody who’s here illegally, not all are violent, but all are here illegally.

MILLS: How do you differentiate if nobody gets a hearing if you don’t have due process? And how do you distinguish one from the other? So, what you’re saying is every person that’s here in this country is a criminal, is a gang member, should be thrown in jail, and that’s what’s happening.

JENNINGS: Every person who’s here illegally is in fact a criminal. Some of them do come here and commit violent crimes and still aren’t deported.

MILLS: Some of them. But how are you going to differentiate if you don’t have a process?

JENNINGS: Well, some have records and some don’t.

BLOW: They still have constitutional rights.

JENNINGS: They’re all going away —

BLOW: They don’t have constitutional rights.

PHILLIP: I want to make sure that we’re not straying from the point of this conversation, which is a question about due process rights. And so I’ll just ask really quickly, do you believe that undocumented immigrants have to have due process rights, that that’s constitutionally what they’re entitled to?

JENNINGS: I’m unsure of what that means in the context of some of the cases that we’ve been dealing with in the news lately, because I’ve been looking at these people who have been here for 14 years, have been through numerous immigration.