Psaki on Amnesty Given to Murderer: DACA ‘Bring[s] People out of the Shadows’

[rush transcript]
DOOCY: “Well, the DOD people there say that they’re to intercept the Iranian ships. We will have somebody on from the Pentagon. Meanwhile, I don’t think we’re going to agree on the terminology there. But we did want to ask you about this, the administration has granted essentially executive amnesty to a known gang member who is now charged with four murders. It was — he got – the deferred status under DACA. And I was just curious, you know, we have been told, Jen, so many times at the people who are getting the special amnesty, they have been vetted and you’re not giving it to the bad guys. Well, this is one of the bad guys and he got it.”
PSAKI: “Let me tell you what DACA is about. DACA is about not only giving a path to individuals who are in the United States, it’s morally right, that’s why the president supported it. But it’s also a step that we believe is important for the economy. Puts more people paying taxes, puts more people in the job market. I can’t go into details on every specific case.”
DOOCY: “Sure.”
PSAKI: “But this is something that there are a number of steps in place that we take to look at who is benefits from it. As you know, there’s a court case going on right now. So, number of the components on this are actually on hold.
DOOCY: “But also people are concerned in addition to the economic impact, they’re concerned about safety. And we want to know that the people who are giving the special status to, aren’t killers. And they gave – you gave status amnesty to this guy who is killer – an accused killer, that is to say. We want to know that somebody is looking into their backgrounds and in fact the guy who runs U.S. citizenship in immigration service’s says that he should not have been approved. We’re just afraid somebody is asleep at the switch, Jen.”
PSAKI: “Well, I can assure you that’s absolutely not the case. Obviously, we look into the backgrounds of individuals. I don’t have more details on this particular case. But overall, the overarching purpose of DACA was to put more people on pay rolls, to put more people paying taxes, to bring people out of the shadows. And that’s the benefit of the large program. But as you know, many components are currently on hold or regardless.”