Rep. Nancy Pelosi said Republicans preoccupation with "chain migration" suggests they want to put DREAMers in chains.
"Look what they’re doing with family unification, making up a fake name. Chain. Chain. I like the word chain. That sends tremors through people in our —"
"Wow, you read something into everything" interjected CNN's bewildered host, Chris Cuomo.
“Of course I do," Pelosi shot back. "I see them every day. So this is as — I laugh. Mitch McConnell said, ‘she shouldn’t have said that.’ I didn’t hear him say anything about the president saying anything about the foul language he used describing countries from which we receive many wonderful entrepreneurial people."
"People come with their family values to make the future better for their families," she continued. "Their hopes, their dreams, their courage to make the future better. That’s what our founders intended, that every generation would take responsibility for the next generation to do better, and that’s called the American Dream. And these DREAMers have inspired America. This should be so easy. If you want to talk about —"
CNN's Cuomo challenged Pelosi, asking whether it was helpful to the deal-making process to deride the White House proposal as "Making America White Again."
Pelosi defend her comments: “Well, that’s what they’re doing. I’ve been saying that a year ago, but the president said -- He said it when he talked about certain countries and how he characterized them. But what they want to do is not let any more — you see with their proposal, cut in half legal immigration into our country. What they want to do is send people back. That’s their real goal. That’s what we fear most is their domestic surveillance, their internal surveillance."