“We’re in the circumstance we’re in because not only was their approach inhumane, it was ineffective,” Psaki told reporters during her daily press briefing.
However, Psaki said Trump’s policies were to blame.
“We’re not looking at President Trump or any of his advisors as a model for how we are approaching immigration,” she said, reassuring reporters that the Biden administration would “forge our own path forward” on the issue.
Psaki also blamed the Trump administration for not doing enough to improve the living conditions for people in foreign countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua
“There are conditions that are in these countries that we have not done enough to help improve,” she said.
“We don’t feel that sending unaccompanied minors, kids, back to take a dangerous journey is the right step to take,” she said.
Typically, the unaccompanied minors during the Trump administration were sent back to their country of origin on a flight escorted by law enforcement officials.
The press secretary reassured critics on the left that the children in the detention camps were being treated humanely before getting released into the United States.
“These kids have been through a trauma, we want to treat them humanely and make sure they are kept safe,” she said.