{"id":2453,"date":"2018-06-24T12:14:37","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T16:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/press.nbcnews.com\/?p=2453"},"modified":"2018-06-24T12:14:37","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T16:14:37","slug":"mtp-exclusive-lankford-on-families-separated-at-border-we-know-where-every-single-child-is-and-the-adult-they-came-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nbcuniversalnewsgroup.com\/nbcnews\/2018\/06\/24\/mtp-exclusive-lankford-on-families-separated-at-border-we-know-where-every-single-child-is-and-the-adult-they-came-with\/","title":{"rendered":"MTP EXCLUSIVE: LANKFORD ON FAMILIES SEPARATED AT BORDER: \u2018WE KNOW WHERE EVERY SINGLE CHILD IS\u2019 AND \u2018THE ADULT THEY CAME WITH\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLUS: Sen. Lankford (R-Okla.) Doesn\u2019t Feel the White House Has Been Fully Transparent With the American Public About What They\u2019re Trying to Do About the Border Crisis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. King (I-Maine): This is \u201cMore of an Asylum and Refugee\u201d Crisis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: King Opposes Abolishing ICE, But Says \u201cLooking at It Makes a Hell of a Lot of Sense\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

TUNE IN TONIGHT: \u201cDateline: The Dividing Line,\u201d a Special Hour on the Border Crisis at 7 p.m. ET With In-Depth Reporting from MSNBC\u2019s Jacob Soboroff\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

JUNE 24, 2018 \u2013 \u201cWe know where every single child is\u201d and \u201cthe adult they came with,\u201d Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)<\/strong> tells \u201cMeet the Press\u201d moderator Chuck Todd of migrant families separated at the border in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n

When asked if he feels \u201cthe White House has been fully transparent with the American public about what they\u2019re trying to do\u201d on the border crisis, Lankford replies, \u201cI don’t, actually. Now this has been one of the great frustrations. I think the White House has not been clear on how bad the Flores Settlement is. They tried to say it and say it and say it. The challenge is, you shouldn’t just allow anyone to be able to come in at any time, to be able to view a spot where there are children present.\u201d Watch the full interview.<\/a><\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview this morning, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)<\/strong> tells Todd that this is \u201cmore of an asylum and refugee\u201d crisis: \u201cThis is very different from the waves of illegal immigrants coming across the border 15, 20 years ago, mostly from Mexico, simply looking for jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

On calls for abolishing ICE, King says, \u201cI don’t know how you abolish an agency without abolishing the function, and I think the function is necessary. \u2026 I don’t know if I say abolish, I don’t think that makes a lot of sense. But I do think looking at it makes a hell of a lot of sense.\u201d Watch the full interview.<\/a><\/p>\n

The violence, drug cartels, gangs and poverty ravaging Central America, including countries like El Salvador, have been driving people to the United States for years. El Salvador \u201cfelt, in some ways, very much like a war zone,\u201d says NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel<\/strong>, after reporting from the country, which has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. \u201cWe went to a prison and we met some very hardcore gang members, and one of them bragged to us that he had killed 35 people, just himself. And when you have that number of dangerous people who feel that emboldened, it is not surprising that people want to leave the country and seek different opportunities and don’t want their children to get sucked into the gang life and have them become the next generation of killers or victims.\u201d Watch Engel discuss his reporting from Central America with Todd.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Resurgent\u2019s Erick Erickson<\/strong>, The Weekly Standard\u2019s Stephen Hayes<\/strong>, NBC News\u2019 Kasie Hunt<\/strong> and Demos\u2019 Heather McGhee<\/strong> join the broadcast for insight and analysis on the week in politics, including President Trump\u2019s retreat this week on separating families at the border. Hayes notes,<\/a> \u201cIt was the public pressure. I mean, the president didn’t do this easily. This is an ad hoc president with an ad hoc decision-making process, leaving his staff and congressional Republicans to scramble in his wake and try to make things right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full transcript of \u201cMeet the Press\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0this morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow the show\u00a0on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for the latest, and watch\u00a0MSNBC\u2019s \u201cMTP Daily\u201d<\/a>\u00a0at 5 p.m. ET for more from moderator Chuck Todd.<\/p>\n

Tune in tonight<\/strong><\/a> at 7 p.m. ET to a special hour of \u201cDateline: The Dividing Line,\u201d featuring in-depth reporting from MSNBC\u2019s Jacob Soboroff along the U.S.-Mexico border. <\/strong><\/p>\n

PLEASE CREDIT: NBC NEWS\u2019 \u201cMEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n