Associated Press/Cliff Owen
- President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency once said he could tell by looking in migrant children’s eyes that they would be a "soon-to-be MS-13 gang member."
- Morgan made the comments in a January Fox News interview, and has made roughly 80 appearances on the network in the last five months, according to a HuffPost analysis of his media appearances.
- The ex-Border Patrol chief also lauded Trump for calling MS-13 members "animals," saying the president was "absolutely correct."
- Visit INSIDER’s homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is drawing scrutiny for once saying he could tell by looking in migrant children’s eyes whether they would join the MS-13 street gang.
Mark Morgan, the nominee for ICE director and an ex-Border Patrol chief, told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in a January 2019 interview that he often encountered migrant children in detention centers that he suspected of being future gang members.
"I’ve been to detention facilities where I’ve walked up to these individuals that are so-called ‘minors’ — 17 or under — I’ve looked at them and I’ve looked at their eyes, Tucker. And I’ve said, ‘that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member.’ It’s unequivocal."
Morgan’s comments resurfaced this week in a HuffPost analysis of Morgan’s roughly 80 Fox News appearances in the last five months. The outlet suggested that Morgan’s frequent public praise of Trump on his favorite network may have caught Trump’s attention.
ICE did not immediately respond to INSIDER’s request for comment on Morgan’s remarks.
Morgan also applauded Trump for calling MS-13 members ‘animals’
In that same January interview with Carlson, Morgan also lauded Trump for calling MS-13 members "animals," even though his remarks attracted some backlash at the time.
"I know this may be controversial, but when the president referred to them as animals, I absolutely said that was correct," Morgan said.
During testimony in April before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Morgan doubled down in front of lawmakers on his concerns that migrant children could be recruited by gangs.
"MS-13 is one of the most violent and prolific transnational gangs the US [has] ever seen," he said in prepared testimony, as Politico reported. "And the influx of minors into the country through the current crisis will provide them with unlimited vulnerable prospects."
Trump announced Morgan as the ICE nominee in a May 5 tweet. It’s not yet clear when he will undergo a confirmation hearing in the Senate.
- Read more:
- The Trump administration plans to send thousands of migrants to 2 Florida counties, and officials are wondering if it’s to punish Democrats
- Trump’s new immigration bill is ‘dead on arrival’ — but its real value could be shoring up his immigration strategy for 2020
- Aerial photos show migrants sleeping on the ground in makeshift tent encampment at a Texas Border Patrol station
- Jared Kushner reportedly tried to pitch Republicans on a new immigration plan but couldn’t answer basic questions about it
See Also:
- Aerial photos show migrants sleeping on the ground in makeshift tent encampment at a Texas Border Patrol station
- 2 key Homeland Security officials pushed back on a plan to arrest thousands of migrants in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles before they were pushed out
- Border Patrol stations have become so overcrowded that migrants are being flown to other less-busy stations to be processed
Source: Business Insider – mmark@businessinsider.com (Michelle Mark)