Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) said Friday that the United States government should pay reparations to be made to migrant kids who had been separated from their families at the border.

Jayapal was speaking to Joy Reid on MSNBC about a contentious interaction she had with acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker over family separations at the border.

"This is such a compelling issue, Joy, you and I have talked about it before," Jayapal said, "Republicans and Democrats agree that this was a heinous crime that has been committed against thousands of children."

"And so I think he really didn't know what to do, so he tried to be dismissive," she added.

"If we all don't have real passion, real commitment," she continued, "to figuring out what happened and making reparations, the U.S. government should make reparations for what we have done to these families."

Jayapal didn't detail what she meant by reparations to the migrant children or their families, but she reiterated her point on her social media account.

"I'm proud of my passion, Mr. Whitaker," she tweeted.

"We all should show real passion and a real commitment to fixing what was done to these families and these children," she added. "This is lasting trauma for thousands of children—we must make reparations."

