NIELSEN: I think that they reflect the focus of those who post such pictures and narratives. The narratives we don’t see are the narratives of the crime, of the opioids, of the smugglers, of who are people killed by gang members, of American children who are recruited and then when they lose the drugs they’re tased and beaten. So we don’t have a balanced view of what’s happening, but what’s happening at the border is the border is being overrun by those who have no right to cross it. As I said before, if you are seeking asylum, go to a port of entry. You do not need to break the law of the United States to seek asylum.

REPORTER: People are being turned away from ports of entry.

NIELSEN: That actually is incorrect. We have limited resources, we have multiple missions at C.B.P. and what we do is based on the very high standards we have, if we do not have enough bed space, if we do not have enough medical personnel on staff, if we do not have enough caretakers on staff, then we will tell people that come to the border that they need to come back. We are not turning them away. We are saying we want to take care of you in the right way, right now we do not have the resources at this particular moment in time, come back.

[cross talk]

REPORTER: Thank you very much. Are you intending for this to play out as it is playing out? Are you intending for parents to be separated from children? Are you intending to send a message?

NIELSEN: I find that offensive. No. Because why would I ever create a policy that purposely does that.

REPORTER: Perhaps as a deterrence?

NIELSEN: No. The way that it works —

[cross talk]

NIELSEN: That is not the question that you asked me. But the answer is, it is a law passed by the United States Congress. Rather than fixing the law, Congress is asking those of us who enforce the law to turn our backs on the law and not enforce the law. It is not an answer. The answer is to fix the laws.

REPORTER: Will the administration refrain from its current policy if Congress were to pass something that is close to what you want, or will it continue to require the separation of parents from children until the president gets exactly what he wants?

NIELSEN: If Congress closes the loopholes, some of which — many of which are closed in the two bills that we hope are taken up this week by the House, then they close the loopholes and the families will stay together throughout the proceedings. Thank you.