Rep. Adam Schiff blamed President Trump for the deaths of a drowned migrant father and his daughter who were photographed Monday on the banks of the Rio Grande.
The California Democrat said their deaths are the result of Trump’s new policy for migrants seeking asylum, which makes them wait inside of Mexico while their claims are being processed.
“We’re going to have to work this out. But, again, I have to say that the president’s effort to deflect responsibility, this is the product of this policy. Part of the point of this policy is to make conditions cruel enough to deter migration, cruel enough to get the Congress to build this wall, and the results are they’re tragic,” Schiff told CNN on Wednesday.
“For him to try to deflect responsibility, he’s the president of the United States. The buck stops with him. It’s time for him to stop acting like a victim and to start acting like the president of the United States,” he added.
When anchor Wolf Blizter said Trump was blaming Democrats, Schiff replied, “He blames everyone but himself. This is the result … the tragic result of his policy, of making people using metering to force people to try to slow the flow artificially of those who are seeking refuge from violence and hardship.”
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter, Valeria, died while trying to cross the Rio Grande on Sunday, according to NBC. They had left El Salvador and were frustrated after waiting two months.
Martínez Ramírez successfully crossed the river and placed Valeria on the other side of the bank. Valeria jumped back into the river after Martínez Ramírez went to get his wife, who went back to get his daughter when they were both swept away by the current.
