De Blasio on Separation Policy: ‘Un-American,’ This Is About ‘Basic Democracy’

‘This is something that the American people care about’

EXCERPT:

JACKSON: "Mayor, before I let you go, you talked about the importance you believe of public officials being able of coming in and see these facilities for themselves. The Department of Homeland Security, others, there will be the criticism from those who say this is just a political stunt essentially. How do you respond to that criticism?"
DE BLASIO: "Hallie, this is about basic democracy. The fact is — this is something that the American people care about. How are the children being treated? How is our money being spent? Is it being spent in a way we’d feel comfortable with or not? That's what public officials were supposed to ascertain. There’s something eerie about a government agency saying, we're not going to let the media in and we're not going to let the public officials in. That would never fly in my city, I'll tell you that much. New Yorkers would never stand for that. I don’t think Americans anywhere will stand for that."

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