MSNBC host Katy Tur momentarily stunned Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) when she pressed her on the responsibility of Democrats for not passing immigration reform when they had control of government.
"If you strip away the language there are people out there who will say, why didn't this get done?" Tur asked Eshoo on her show Thursday. "Why didn't immigration get done while Barack Obama was president?
"Why did that not happen?" she added. "Looking back..."
"Well we were on our way to," Eshoo interrupted, "we were on our way to..."
"And you were on your way to it," Tur interrupted, "it did get stalled..."
"If you will recall, if you will recall," Eshoo protested.
"Looking back, is there anything you would have done, you would have wanted your part to do differently?" Tur continued. "Anything at all?"
"Well, I think that the biggest mistake was on the part of the uh, Speaker," Eshoo responded, "when he wouldn't allow the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that the Senate had written and passed, uh, to be brought to the floor of the House."
"We should be able to vote!" she continued. "Would it pass? Some would vote 'aye,' some would vote 'nay.' But we should have the opportunity to vote, and it was not brought up in the House, and it all went downhill after that."
"It all went downhill after that," she reiterated.
Many critics of the Democrats have accused them of ignoring the issue of immigration in order to keep the issue alive for the 2016 presidential election. Illegal immigrant advocates have excoriated Democrats for not doing enough to solve the illegal immigration crisis.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday to stop the controversial policy of separating families at the border, but Democrats have criticized the act, saying it is unclear on how families will be reunited.
