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CLINTON: It’s horrible.
AMANPOUR: Hard choice — let them stay in the United States or send them back?
CLINTON: Well, two quick points. One, the numbers are increasing dramatically. And the main reason I believe why that’s happening is that the violence in certain of those Central American countries is increasing dramatically. And there is not sufficient law enforcement or will on the part of the governments of those countries to try to deal with this exponential increase in violence, drug trafficking, the drug cartels, and many children are fleeing from that violence.
AMANPOUR: Should they be able to stay here? It’s safer.
CLINTON: Well — it may be safer but that’s not the answer. I do not —
AMANPOUR: Should they be sent back?
CLINTON: Well, first of all, we have to provide the best emergency care we can provide. We have children 5 and 6 years old who have come up from Central America. We need to do more to provide border security in southern Mexico.
AMANPOUR: So, you’re saying they should be sent back now?
CLINTON: Well, they should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are, because there are concerns whether all of them should be sent back. But I think all of them who can be should be reunited with their families. And just as Vice President Biden is arguing today in Central America, we’ve got to do more. I started this when I was secretary to deal with the violence in this region to deal with border security. But we have so to send a clear message, just because your child gets across the border, that doesn’t mean the child gets to stay. So, we don’t want to send a message that is contrary to our laws or will encourage more children to make that dangerous journey.
AMANPOUR: We’re going to go on to a different topic. And this I’m going to read because it’s from Tumblr, who we’re partnering with. So, here we go.