John Kelly defends separating immigrant families, saying 'name of the game is deterrence'

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Kelly: Trump 'somewhat embarrassed' by probe White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said President Donald Trump is "somewhat embarrassed" by the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. (May 11)

President Trump's chief of staff John Kelly defended the technique of separating undocumented immigrants from their children as a necessary evil in the administration's effort to increase border security during an interview with National Public Radio Thursday.

Kelly told NPR that "the vast majority" of the immigrants "are not bad people."

"They're not criminals. They're not MS-13," Kelly said. "But they're also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society. They're overwhelmingly rural people."

He said they are poorly educated, don't speak English — "obviously that's a big thing" — and don't have skills, so they "don't integrate well."

"They're not bad people," Kelly repeated. "They're coming here for a reason. And I sympathize with the reason. But the laws are the laws."

In the effort to enforce U.S. border laws, "a big name of the game is deterrence," he explained. And separating families "could be a tough deterrent."

Kelly disputed the notion that such action was cruel.

"The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever," Kelly said. "But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long."

Attorney General Jeff Session announced a "zero tolerance policy for illegal entry on our southwest border" on Monday.

"If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple," Sessions said. "If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you, And that child may be separated from you as required by law."

Children who are separated from their parents would be put under the supervision of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Sessions said. The department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement releases children traveling alone to family and places them in shelters.

"We don’t want to separate families, but we don’t want families to come to the border illegally and attempt to enter into this country improperly," Sessions said. "The parents are subject to prosecution while children may not be. So, if we do our duty and prosecute those cases, then children inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions."

Advocacy groups blasted the moves as cruel and heartless, especially in cases where the family is seeking asylum in the United States.

"Criminalizing and stigmatizing parents who are only trying to keep their children from harm and give them a safe upbringing will cause untold damage to thousands of traumatized families who have already given up everything to flee terrible circumstances in their home countries," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director.

Other Kelly interview highlights:

On the Russia probe:

Kelly said he has made a point of distancing himself from the investigation, but added that after this amount of time without "any real meat on the bone" suggests "there is nothing there, relative to our president."

Kelly also said the president is "somewhat embarrassed" about the investigation when it comes up in front of other world leaders and he called it a "distraction."

His regret about the job:

"In retrospect, I wish I had been here from Day 1."

On Trump's intellect:

Kelly said Trump is "very smart – a very, very smart guy. I mean a super smart guy."

On Trump's inaccurate statements:

"I'm not so sure they're inaccurate."

Contributing: The Associated Press