What are President Trump’s next steps following his new border security proposal?

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What are President Trump’s next steps following his new border security proposal?

Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley weighs in on the president’s latest border security proposal.

This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," January 19, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As a candidate for President, I promised I would fix this crisis and I intend to keep that promise one way or the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: Breaking tonight, President Trump offers a compromise to end the stalemate in Washington, setting up a showdown on Capitol Hill. Hello and welcome to "Justice." I'm Judge Jeanine Pirro. Thanks for being with us tonight and thanks to all of you for once again making "Justice" number one last weekend.

You saw it here live as the President put a deal on the table for the Democrats that could end the partial government shutdown and solve the crisis on the border, but all indications are the Democrats are more than willing to let the madness go on.

Tonight, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley, Michelle Malkin, Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk and more. But first my open.

Politicians are elected to represent us. They are here to protect our interests over their political interests. Refusal to try to work toward compromise is putting politics over people.

Now, President Trump has been at the White House virtually every day working and waiting and trying to make a deal -- bending, compromising and offering solutions. They not only disrespect him, they sometimes don't even show up.

They've refused his every overture, put a stake in the ground proving that politics are more important than putting people back to work and as 800,000 Federal employees face the loss of a second paycheck this Tuesday, the Democrats disregard their distress by not negotiating to end the partial government shutdown.

And that my friends, is a problem. But it's even bigger. They refuse to negotiate for people who live paycheck to paycheck. They don't consider Americans whose lives, safety, economy and social service agencies are drained by these uninvited illegals.

Today, the President offered yet another compromise to reopen the government. There will be no concrete wall, only steel slat barriers, $5.7 billion for it million for it, $805 million drug detection technology, $800 million for humanitarian assistance, almost 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents, 75 new immigration judges and a three-year extension for TPS and DACA.

The President described in clear and direct language the human crises ranging from 300 of our children dying every week from heroin, 90% of which comes through those poorest Mexican borders. Now, young people can seek asylum in their country without traveling with those dangerous human traffickers and coyotes.

He talked about what many of us in law enforcement already knew - that parents give their daughters birth control pills knowing full well that their daughters will be raped along this dangerous journey.

And the knee-jerk reactions are in. Nancy Pelosi calls the President's proposals unacceptable and said, "What's original in his proposal is not good and what's good in his proposal is not original." Chuck Schumer called it one-sided and ineffective.

No surprise, Democrats - demon rats - are dug in to the theater of lies and hate, casting Donald Trump as evil, while casting themselves as angels, supported by a mainstream media intent on publishing any anti-Trump story, however baseless or absurd. Journalistic standards be damned.

The theater was actually brought to the absurd when Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to the President saying it was too dangerous for him to give the State of the Union speech, saying she didn't want him telling his lies and distortions in the House.

A typical example by the way of what the left is doing in general, shut down the voice of the President shut down the voice of the President. Shut down law and order. Shut down security at our border.

It turns out Nancy, you never even spoke to security. In fact every day, Congress is in session. Nobody's been shut down for lack of security. Admit it. You made it up to shut him down, but never in the history of this great nation has a Speaker refused the President the opportunity to give a State of the Union address and of course, not one to be cowed.

The President pulls you off a government bus, 30 minutes before your trip to Europe. Nancy, what the hell were you doing boarding a bus with your Democrat cronies on the way to Brussels to meet with NATO leaders? There's a partial government shutdown. We don't need you in Brussels. How do you negotiate your way out of a stalemate while you're on a seven-day European excursion that, we, the taxpayers pay for? You've got some hutzpah, lady.

And what were you going to do? Have another few parties on our dime and badmouth the President to those who prefer that we foot their NATO bill, too? And then you and your band of friendlies, off then to Afghanistan to find out what's going on from the troops on the ground. Really? You think some soldier is going to saunter up and whisper in your ear to give you the real scoop when his bosses at the Pentagon would be happy to do so in Washington?

Or is it that you think the troops are dying to see you? Send them a video, Nancy and thank them. And by the way, is this how you reinforce your power base by approving trips? Are you the premier congressional junket organizer? But then again, you've never been one to sacrifice, are you? How about instead of the trips you escrow that money for Federal employees? What's that? You'd rather not. Because polling blames Trump for this shutdown and you're good with that.

And by the way, Nancy, so is he. He's wearing his big-boy pants and he offered to take the burden just to get it done. How about since you're in charge of all spending bills, Nancy, you forego your check until this is over? Man up like the Federal employees going through this shutdown. Donate congressional salaries to those who won't get one. After all, reports are, you and your husband are worth over a $100 million. How'd you make that money, Nancy? How long is it that you've been in Congress?

Now President Trump, he isn't taking a check. He's donated his salary since day one to a number of Federal agencies and Nancy, this is just the two of us here talking. Admit it. Your big donors in California. They want illegals to pick grapes. Even Cesar Chavez, you're old enough to remember him. Fought tooth and nail to stop illegal immigrants to protect legal immigrants and the farmworkers, it's all theater, folks.

The President they say is a fear monger. This is a manufactured crisis. Say that to the face of an angel mom whose child was murdered or massacred by illegal immigrants. You have kids, Nancy? You do, don't you? And why did you approve securing the border like so many of your Democrat cronies in 2006 and 2013 under the Secure Fence Act, but not this?

The obvious answer, because Donald Trump wants it. Instead, your path is to disrespect Americans and instead respect those who violate our laws while you and your ilk praised pictures of - raised pictures of furloughed Federal employees when you won't meet with the angel moms who come to your office with pictures of American children killed by illegals.

So let me see if I understand this. An American mother shows a picture of a child murdered by an illegal and Chuck Schumer and his gang, they come out and show pictures of Federal employees. Is there a moral equivalency here? Are you folks, schizo? Are you working for Americans or illegals? Or is it that you just don't give a damn?

You vacation in Hawaii. Your buddies vacation with lobbyists in Puerto Rico during this shutdown and you plan a jaunt to Europe while Federal employees are trying to save every dollar to buy groceries. Admit it, you don't give a damn.

Nancy, you're a hypocrite. A political operative. Your mantra, destroy the President of the United States. To hell with the taxpaying, hardworking Americans. Let them eat cake. I've got a junket to go on and then you go to a swage and an electorate to ignore and Nancy, if you're too afraid to take a commercial flight, there are alternate ways to fly. Check this one out. It's tailor-made for you.

And that's my open. If you like my the "Opening Statements," you'll like my new book, "New York Times" number one bestseller, "Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case against the anti-Trump Conspiracy." Joining me now with the latest on all the breaking news, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley. Good evening, Hogan.

HOGAN GIDLEY, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Hey, Judge. Great to be with you.

PIRRO: All right, you had quite a week this week, didn't you?

GIDLEY: Absolutely. It's not stop at that White House.

PIRRO: Well, look I want to talk about BuzzFeed in a minute, but I want to talk about first the reaction of the Democrats not after the President laid out what he said this afternoon at about four o'clock, but what they said before he even spoke. Talk about that.

GIDLEY: It's incredible. They did it when he gave the Oval Office address where they had a canned speech when they didn't know what he was going to say. They did it again today. Releasing information, denying the plan the President put out. They refuse to work with him. They said the plan was bad when they hadn't even heard what he was going to say.

So many people thought he was going to declare a national emergency, which he didn't do. So the point is, Democrats are hypocritical here and they're disingenuous. They're not being truthful with the American people. They're against the President before they know what he's even going to say and it tells you everything you need to know.

PIRRO: You know, I have to tell you, Hogan, I have in front of me, you know, the facts from the 2006 Secure Fence Act, the people who supported it. The Democrats voting "yay" and the 213 Border Security. It is stunning to me that they have the nerve to go out, I mean, I wouldn't be able to do it. To go out and say this is immoral, a wall is immoral when six years ago, it wasn't immoral and thirteen years ago, it wasn't immoral. It is so transparent.

GIDLEY: Right. They said it was a manufactured crisis as well. Well Barack Obama called it a crisis, a humanitarian one at that from the Rose Garden. Was it manufactured then? Was it manufactured when they cast votes to protect our border? And like you said in the open, is it manufactured to those who've lost loved ones at the hands of illegal immigrants? Ask them that and they would say it is not manufactured.

We face a humanitarian crisis along our border and a national security crisis along our border. This President recognizes that and he's trying to do something about it. When you give the Democrats the data and explain what's going on, it's like they don't believe it. They sure don't know it and worse, it's like they don't care.

And that's where we are right now. The President has tried repeatedly to come to the table to fix this and Democrats are nowhere to be found.

PIRRO: They believe it, Hogan, and they know it, but as I said, their politics are above serving the people. Their politics are above making sure that a Federal employee doesn't have to go out and get a loan to pay the rent or the mortgage. It's about them and destroying that man on the screen right now and it is infuriating.

GIDLEY: Well, you make the point. They pretend to care about these Federal workers who are living paycheck to paycheck saying to the American people, "Listen, these Federal workers are in such bad shape. They've got to sell their own clothing to make ends meet." But the only clothing they appear to care about is Resort Casual which was the attire of recommendation for their jaunt down to Puerto Rico.

I mean, first they go to Hawaii, then the Democrats party in Puerto Rico and then as you mentioned Nancy Pelosi, wanted a trip - a six-day excursion to Europe which would have ensured these 800,000 employees for the Federal government lose their second paycheck in a row. That is unacceptable.

The President asked her to postpone that trip, refused to let her use Military Air to try and keep her in this country, so we can have a conversation to reopen the government and secure the border and she still refuses to come to the table.

PIRRO: Well you know, and I want to get to BuzzFeed, but the theater of all of this with the President, I mean, think about negotiations. I mean I took Labor Law in Law School, you know you've got management and then you've got the unions, okay. Here we've got management. We've got the President. There's no one at the table, but he's still bending. He's still compromising.

Let's go to BuzzFeed. The hate for this man is unbelievable. When BuzzFeed is willing to come out and every Democrat this side of Hawaii is willing to come out and say "impeach, impeach, " when they publish a story that has no foundation and when the Special Counsel comes out and says, "Hey, look you know, there's no truth to this. The President never told Cohen to lie." Then I mean, can't the American people see through this?

GIDLEY: I think they are starting to. The President has been saying fake news for a long time and that was a perfect example of it, but it wasn't just the BuzzFeed story. It's that every other mainstream outlet carried it from sunup until sundown. I got calls at five o'clock in the morning asking me to comment on it.

And the fact is, BuzzFeed itself ran an article, ran a story I should say, with no corroborating evidence whatsoever. Even the author of the piece who has a history of political activism came out and said he couldn't corroborate the piece either. They ran it anyway and every other outlet picked it up and not to mention the fact the subject was Michael Cohen, someone who is an admitted liar and a convicted felon who defrauded this government of millions of dollars. It's insane to see what the media are doing just to try and take away any wins from Donald Trump and to hurt his reputation.

And now we know, this past year, polling shows 90% of the coverage against this President is negative. I wonder how much of it is fake? I bet it's close to that number.

PIRRO: Can you imagine if only like 60% was negative?

GIDLEY: It was 80%, think how high it would be in the polls. It's unbelievable what they try to do to this man. All he's done is left a lucrative business to come into this White House and do everything he can to make our lives better across this country. He's done that regardless of demographic, wages are up, unemployment is down. We have better trade deals. America is doing outstanding and it's because of Donald Trump.

PIRRO: All right, Hogan Gidley, get some sleep. You had a rough week.

GIDLEY: Thanks so much.

PIRRO: Much more on tonight's breaking news. Ahead, we'll debate the President's proposal and the Democrats reaction with Dan Bongino and Chris Hahn - that ought to be good, and next Democrats pulls out their impeachment pitchforks yesterday as they jumped all over the BuzzFeed fake news bombshell. We'll talk about that and more with our friend, Michelle Malkin. When will the mainstream media be held accountable? "Justice" rolls on in just a moment on this busy big night of news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: We've suffered Trump-Russia hysteria for the better part of two years and I am sick of it, and apparently Bob Muller, Special Counsel is, too. He took the extraordinary step of essentially saying that BuzzFeed's report, that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress was bogus, fake news. But before Mueller's statement, the Democrat Brigade was united in its renewed calls for impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, ANCHOR, CNN: If it were to be true, it means the President told someone to lie under oath which very simply is a crime and is impeachable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this story is true, we must begin impeachment proceeding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That certainly rises to the level of - rises to the level of impeachable offense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is considered an impeachable offense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that an impeachable offense?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. These are impeachable offenses.

JOY BEHAR, HOST, THE VIEW: That the exact way that Richard Nixon was kicked out of office.

SCIUTTO: The very same offense for which the House of Representatives moved to impeach Richard Nixon.

JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN: Now suborning perjury, telling someone to lie is a crime. It is also, in the past, been impeachable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to know if the President of the United States committed a Federal felony and at that point, we are in high crimes and misdemeanor and we are in an impeachment case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: The hate is unbelievable. No wonder Americans are confused. They hear this propaganda day in and day out. Joining me now with reaction, syndicated columnist and author Michelle Malkin. Michelle, now number one, we know that like Michael Cohen, BuzzFeed's lead reporter is a proven liar.

We also know that he admitted that he had seen no evidence that supported this report and BuzzFeed sources didn't bother to back it up in any way and it goes on and on, and by the way, Donald Trump doesn't text or e-mail, so I don't know where he supposedly got this stuff.

And this is a 900th time that the President needs to be impeached, but what say you?

MICHELLE MALKIN, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR: Right, BuzzFeed of course is buzz fake news and this is really just the epitome of everything that President Trump has talked about with the beltway swamp media.

These are not journalists. These are political operatives masquerading as quote-unquote "reporters" when they go out there and recycle gossip and you had 20 hours on Friday of non-stop impeachment-palooza.

I mean if we had played a drinking game on Friday, every time these people said if or impeach, we'd be bombed out of our skulls, Judge. And they never face consequences for it.

I mean, is maybe the 20th or 25th time that we've had a fake Russian collusion story? And there have been some reporters that had to resign after a couple of these - CNN reporters that also had checkered past and you mentioned that this BuzzFeed reporter in particular had had problems with circulating anonymously sourced stories as quote/unquote "corroborated reports." It has to end.

PIRRO: Well, but you know what? I've got tell you, Michelle, it's not going to end because they've gotten away with it. There are, as you say, no consequences. Journalistic standards be damned, as long as we can get this guy out even if Federal employees don't get a check. we don't care, we'll keep vacationing.

And you know, as long as we can just get all the team out against this man and you have to say to yourself, how does a President of the United States get up every day? And by the way, he doesn't take a check for this. How does he get up every day to this lunacy? Does he say to himself, "Why am I doing this? I'm working as hard as I can."

MALKIN: Yes, and he deserves a big salute for that because I can tell you, after 25 years of covering politics, I have not seen any politician, Democrat or Republican who's been able to withstand the slings and arrows, the constant barrage of fake news that this President has.

And we talk about consequences and your book is so brilliant in talking about the liars and the leakers in particular, and you have to call out not just BuzzFeed, but all of the entire machine that pounded on this story, all on Friday. Where are the retractions? Where are the apologies? Waiting, tick-tock.

PIRRO: Well, I doubt we're going to see any of that. But I think that this unique call by Bob Mueller is telling - telling of what? I don't know. I don't like reading tea leaves when I don't know them totally. For him to do that is pretty incredible.

MALKIN: It is extraordinary and you know, I listened to the Chief Executive of BuzzFeed stammering and stuttering, explaining about how they contacted Mueller's office at some point to let him know that the story was about to be published and the entire time of course, the left wing eating it all up and recycling the lies and of course, the retraction if there is going to be any, is going to get a fraction of the attention that the initial lie did.

PIRRO: And that's a problem. Michelle Malkin, thank you so much.

MALKIN: You bet.

PIRRO: And Charlie Kirk is still on deck, plus my exclusive with ICE acting Director, Ron Vitiello, but next, President Trump put the deal on the table Dan Bongino and Chris Hahn are ready to debate. What happens next? What will they have to say? The panel is straight ahead and you don't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERT GRAY, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Robert Gray. Thousands of yellow vest protesters rallied in several French cities today for a 10th straight weekend. The movement over France's economic problems showing no sign of letting up despite French President Macron's efforts to cool protester's anger. In Paris today, demonstrators clashed with police after activists knocked down a traffic light. Police charged at them using tear gas and water cannons.

A U.S. airstrike has killed 52 Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia, according to U.S. Africa Command. Last year, the military launched 47 strikes in Somalia against Al-Shabaab militants after President Trump gave the 
Pentagon permission to conduct offensive strikes. This strike comes just four days after Al-Shabaab militants killed 21 people, including one American in an attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya.

Back to the Judge now.

PIRRO: President Trump offering Dems a compromise on immigration in an effort to end the partial government shutdown. Will it work? Here with reaction, host of the "Dan Bongino Show Podcast," Dan Bongino. Former aide to Chuck Schumer, syndicated talk show host Chris Hahn. All right, Chris, I'm going to start with you as I think I almost always do. You know, the Democrats are refusing to negotiate basically saying that there is no crisis, that it's a manufactured crisis when there are two more major caravans staging and about to enter the United States and we just arrested 3476 illegals that were digging a tunnel or tunneling under the fence or the border in Arizona. How could this not be a crisis?

CHRIS HAHN, SYNDICATED TALK SHOW HOST: Yes, I don't know how a tunnel is going to be stopped by a wall, that's the first thing and I don't think there's a crisis. I think what we need to do right now is open the government and then negotiate a long-term deal that includes border security and immigration reform like the 2013 bipartisan --

PIRRO: That's a bunch of hog wash, I'll tell you why. The President asked about opening the government. The President asked about opening the government so that they could work to end this - to get some kind of resolution and they said, "No, we're not going to promise you an end to the resolution." I mean don't you agree, come on, 2006 and 2013, the Secure Fence Act basically the same thing as what the President is offering and the Democrats supported it, and now they're either not on their meds or schizophrenic and they don't want to support it now.

HAHN: Well, the 2013 bill never got a vote in the House and quite frankly, if the President offers a 2013 bill right now, I think Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer would take it in a heartbeat and I think they should.

PIRRO: So why don't they got to the White House and meet with the President and tell him that. Why is she going on junkets?

HAHN: I think from what I - from what I understand, they have said that to the President.

PIRRO: Oh really?

HAHN: And the President should put that on the table.

PIRRO: Is that what your sources - who is your source? BuzzFeed? Go ahead, Dan.

HAHN: It's complicated and they should open the government to discuss it.

PIRRO: Oh please, what they can't speak? I am not going. Go.

DAN BONGINO, HOST, DAN BONGINO SHOW PODCAST: You're going to have to give Chris some bullet points on index cards before these debates because he just never does his homework.

That tunnel - he said, how would this border wall stop a tunnel? That tunnel he's talking about in Yuma -

HAHN: Tell me, Dan.

BONGINO: There's a crappy old border wall that was built to stop vehicular traffic, not people that didn't have a concrete base. Exactly the opposite of what Donald Trump is proposing now. Chris doesn't want to tell you that because it doesn't fit his narrative.

(CROSSTALK)

HAHN: I'm deep in that base.

BONGINO: Judge, Chris's boss - former boss, Chuck Schumer voted for the Secure Fence Act in 2006.

HAHN: Yes, we like fences.

BONGINO: How is this guy on the air tonight with a straight face defending this? Chris, you have nowhere to go. Just admit, you're wrong. You're absolutely wrong and you guys have got any - Trump outfoxed you today, sorry.

HAHN: Dan, I think your problem is that you don't hear us when we talk. We're not against fences in part of the border. We're not even against walls in part of the border where it makes sense. We're against a long wall. Now, the President today said he doesn't want a "sea to shining sea wall," that's the first time I've ever heard him say that. So that's progress, but that was the only progress I heard this afternoon when he spoke.

BONGINO: Wait, hold on, Chris. All right, where do you want a wall then? Stop talking in generalities. Where do you want a wall?

PIRRO: No, we already won, Dan. He said, at least the President said he doesn't need a concrete wall, none of the money is used for concrete, so you wouldn't make - Chris, you admit that they should be there talking. What is this woman going to Afghanistan for? Why is she not talking to the President?

HAHN: Look, I could be visiting - I think the Speaker of the House visiting the troops in Afghanistan is an important thing to do and it was probably long planned and nobody thought that there is a still a shutdown going on right now.

PIRRO: That's a bunch of hog wash. Stop, Chris.

HAHN: The President needs to open the government today.

PIRRO: She ought to visit the troops at the southern border if she wants to find out if this is a manufactured crisis. She ought to talk to our men and not the men and women over there.

HAHN: They've got nothing to do so they'll have plenty of time to hang with her. They've got nothing to do at the border, so they'll have plenty of time to listen to her and any other congressmen that comes down there no matter how long they might take.

PIRRO: They have nothing to do with the border with thousands and thousands - Dan, take it away.

BONGINO: Listen, Chris, come on. You were a staffer on it. Don't play silly here, okay. You know full well and don't hide it on the air that these CODEL trips are a scam. Cut the crap. You go talk to an embassy staff personnel like I did in 30-plus countries. They hate CODEL.

HAHN: They are going to Afghanistan.

BONGINO: Chris, stop going to Afghanistan.

HAHN: These are --

PIRRO: They're going to Brussels to have a tea party.

BONGINO: The troops - God bless our troops in Afghanistan.

HAHN: They're stopping in Brussels on their way to Afghanistan. You know, you can't just make that trip one --

BONGINO: Look, Chris, pay the troops in Afghanistan. Pay them. That's how you show them the respect that they deserve.

HAHN: The troops are getting paid.

BONGINO: Not taking --

HAHN: The troops are getting paid, Dan. Pay the Coast Guard, Mr. President. Open up the government.

BONGINO: And by the way, she was going to Brussels, too. Let's not make it out like she was put on Army fatigues and going out on a battlefield. Give me a break. You know CODELs are crap. They're a big government funding junket scam. We all pay for it. Everybody knows it.

HAHN: Here's the thing, guys. We've all read "Art of the Deal." The President is asking them to negotiate against themselves. They had a deal in December that the President decided after Ann Coulter said it was a bad deal that he wasn't going to sign. The President needs to open the government and then they can negotiate everything.

PIRRO: Oh, the President should listen to Ann Coulter. Please. Okay, Dan Bongino and Chris Hahn.

HAHN: He did listen to Ann Coulter.

PIRRO: Yes, I took too much of the time on that. Charlie Kirk still ahead, but next, a "Justice" exclusive. I sat down with acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello, what will he have to say about the shutdown. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome back to "Justice." Last week, I sat down with acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello. We discussed the dire crisis at the southern border and the reality of the situation on the ground. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PIRRO: Director Vitiello, you just came back from the White House. You met with the President and there's a lot going on, on the border. Tell us what it's like on the ground there.

RON VITIELLO, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: So, we've been faced with a crisis as it relates to the number of people and the kinds of people that are coming to the border each and every day.

Right before Christmas, we were seeing - CBP was seeing over 2,000 people a day coming to --

PIRRO: That's Customs and Border Patrol.

VITIELLO: Correct. So they were seeing 2,000 people a day, 60% of that traffic is families or children traveling alone, and so that taxes the resources of Customs and Border Protection and then 60% of all the arrests that they make, they put - we put into ICE custody.

PIRRO: Okay, so just to make it clear that the Border Patrol makes the arrest and everyone who's arrested comes to ICE, that's your agency - Immigration Customs Enforcement.

VITIELLO: That's correct.

PIRRO: With the numbers that we're seeing at the border now, how does that impact your ability to do your job and your workers?

VITIELLO: It makes it more difficult because the capacities of their facilities and our facilities to hold people have been overtaxed. The demographic of these mostly being for - 60% of these being families or children that are alone, we have to do all the transportation from those locations to the holdings locations and then we just didn't have enough room for all of the people that were coming.

PIRRO: I read the other day that there's one sector which is the Rio Grande Valley, they average about 620 people a day and just this week, they had 133 people from Pakistan, India, Romania, China and all kinds of other countries.

I mean, are we are we the patsies here where everybody in the world knows you just come to the southern border and I guess, the follow-up question is, why would the Democrats say we don't need a wall? Can you think of a reason?

VITIELLO: Yes, you mentioned the Valley. I used to be the Chief of the sector down there and when I was Sector Chief, we laid down 55 miles of the barrier that they have there now and it worked. In those areas, it's very well controlled. But we still have gaps in that border that need to be shored up.

PIRRO: Okay, so what would a Democrat - what would the argument be to not have the border? Is there a reason to not have a wall, I should say?

VITIELLO: I can't get inside their head. What I can tell you though is if you have that barrier and you have the agents that support it, if you have access to the border and you have the technology that's required, you're going to have a much more secure border, so that barrier is really important.

PIRRO: You know, the Dems talk about abolishing ICE, what do you think of that? And how does it affect the morale of the members of the ICE team?

VITIELLO: Well, we were very concerned when the rhetoric actually turned into action. We have people in the work force, employees that were threatened at their homes and things on the internet. It was really terrible. So we put some monitoring in place and we're watching that very closely.

We had the help of some prosecutions that - we went after some people who made threats against the work force and we're very concerned about that.

The morale is up because we're getting the kind of resources. We're getting the kind of support that unlike I've ever seen in the agency.

PIRRO: When we talk about the gang members who are coming through and you hear about the Democrats saying, "No, we really don't need a wall." You've been in the system for over three decades. You were rank and file Border Patrol, now, you're acting Director of ICE what do you think when you look back to 1986, when President Reagan gave amnesty to how many millions of illegals and fast forward to 2019, this is America. It's the greatest country on Earth. Why can't we figure this thing out?

VITIELLO: I think we can figure it out. We've got a President now who's enthusiastic about having the border secure and he's looked to the professionals in CBP and the Border Patrol and ICE and how - what we need to do to fortify the border with a barrier and all the technology and the things that go with it, close the loopholes that are in the law. If we did both of those things, you would have a dramatic impact on the border communities and what's happening in each of the towns and the cities in the United States were they are being preyed upon by people who are selling opioids or the gang members that find themselves in this society.

PIRRO: And the truth is that, even though members of your agency are not getting a paycheck this week and Border Patrol, as well, although they will ultimately be paid, you still think it's worth it to fight this fight?

VITIELLO: I'm grateful for the service that they give the country. Most of ICE is law enforcement, so they're called non-exempt, that means they come to work whether they're getting paid or not and I'm grateful for the work that they do because they're protecting this country each and every day.

PIRRO: What about the President? Should he declare that it is an emergency and national security emergency in the event he has to appropriate funds from other agencies?

VITIELLO: It's quite clear to me that he's dedicated to getting this job done so, whatever means he needs to take to do that, I think he should do it.

PIRRO: All right, Director Vitiello. Thanks so much for being with us on the frontlines and in the interior of the United States. Thanks so much.

VITIELLO: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PIRRO: A showdown on Capitol Hill this week in the wake of President Trump's offer to Democrats. Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk is here to talk about that and more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: President Trump trying to make it deal with the Dems to finally end this shutdown standoff. Joining me now with reaction to it all, Turning Point USA, founder, Charlie Kirk. Welcome, Charlie. You know, it's kind of interesting. I don't know if you heard the discussion between Dan Bongino and Chris Hahn that I always interject myself in which - whatever. Hahn said --

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: Or not to.

PIRRO: Huh?

KIRK: Or not, too.

PIRRO: It's very hard not to, but he said what the President said today, this is not a concrete structure from sea to sea, and Hahn said, well, you know, they should like that. That's something I never heard before, but you know, my recollection is the President had always talked about or recently talked about the steel slats, you know, so he has compromised and yet they're still saying it's a non-starter. They're not willing to discuss anything.

KIRK: Which is just so disappointing and look, the President is acting reasonably; the Democrats are acting radically and the President has an amazing ability to get Democrats to oppose things they used to advocate for.

This is a very fair deal. I mean, this is a compromise that I think the Democrats have been saying for weeks. I mean, Nancy and Chuck, they opposed it before he even says it and at what point will the media be able to report this fairly and say that no matter what Trump does, no matter what he brings to the table, they don't want a deal to get done and it's because they're not going to agree to anything unless there is no wall, which means unlimited amount of illegal immigration and if they have some form of citizenship, not even permanent residence for DACA recipients.

And this is the final point I want make, Judge, for anyone out there that is a recipient of DACA, it's now the Democrats that are preventing you from legal stay in this country, not the President. Don't believe the demagogue --

PIRRO: Right, Congress has to act on this, but you know what I find amazing is we're spending something like $475 - I don't know if it was million or billion in Afghanistan, building walls and bridges and 
infrastructure, a power grid and we don't want to spend $5 billion for steel slats when 90% of the heroin of 300 Americans dying each week is coming from Mexico. Are these people elected by the illegals or the Americans?

KIRK: Well, that that's - so here's the big point, Judge, and let's talk about this. The Democrats are losing Middle America quickly. They're losing states like Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, and the only way that they think they can have political success in the future is by getting 10 million to 20 million illegals into the country and eventually making them citizens to vote.

And I wish it wasn't that simple, but it's just that the Democrats know that they can no longer win actual Americans with their policies. They've become so radical and again Trump, is acting reasonable here. He's acting to try to find a deal right down the middle and this is going to upset some people on the Conservative side and upset some people on the Liberal side, but he might be able get 60 votes to reopen the government.

But look, the Democrats, they have contempt for the American people. They were in Puerto Rico partying with 109 lobbyists. They were in Hawaii over Christmas and New Year's and thank goodness, President Trump cancelled Nancy Pelosi's taxpayer-funded excursion overseas, which is totally unnecessary in the face of a government shutdown.

PIRRO: And you know, as we go forward on Tuesday, Mitch McConnell is going to offer that bill and it appears that there are enough Democrats that they can peel off in the Senate to get the bill passed because there are at least six or eight of them who said, "You know what, I actually think a wall or some kind of structure is appropriate in places." So then what happens?

If we can get the Senate to do that, the President has given them everything and they just - they want the government shutdown over which is a bunch of hog wash, what happens after that?

KIRK: Well, the pressure has to go then on the Speaker of the House and I would like some journalist to sit down with Speaker Pelosi and say, "Can you say something, some form of a deal, any form of border security, some number?" I mean, she joked around she said, "Well, maybe a dollar I'll put towards border security."

And remember, she has a majority, but not an overwhelming majority there and there are plenty of moderate Democrats that are getting very, very uneasy. Here's a quick fact. Incoming new freshmen Democrats have not overseen an open government yet and their districts that are generally conservatives are getting uneasy about that. The heat is on, on Speaker Pelosi. Let's see what they'll do.

PIRRO: All right, Charlie Kirk, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

KIRK: You bet.

PIRRO: Finally, tonight, that's a sneak peek of my brand-new exciting special, "Liars, Leakers and Liberals," based on my book. It's available right now on Fox Nation. If you're not a member, sign up today. I'm Jeanine Pirro advocating for truth, justice and the American Way. "The Greg Gutfeld Show" is coming up and I'll see you next Saturday night.

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