Kasich on death of 7-year-old in Border Patrol custody: ‘Shame on Congress’

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) took aim at Congress on Friday after a seven-year-old migrant from Guatemala died while in U.S. custody of dehydration and shock.

In an interview on CNN, Kasich blamed Congress for inaction on immigration reform, which he said was exacerbating the immigration crisis on the southern border.

{mosads}”Shame on the Congress,” Kasich said. “Comprehensive immigration strategy was needed.”

“The answer is not just ‘don’t come,’ ” he continued. “Because these people are going to come.”

Kasich also aimed criticism at his fellow Republicans from the 2016 primary cycle for distancing themselves from congressional efforts to pass comprehensive reform of the U.S. immigration system.

“I was just thinking the other day [how] during the Republican debates for president, they were all walking away from the fact that…’oh no, no, I didn’t want to get involved in that stuff, that was not important to me. Don’t try to say that I was for some kind of comprehensive immigration strategy,’ ” Kasich continued.

“That’s precisely what we need,” the governor added. “And God rest [former Sen.] John McCain, he was one of the leaders in that.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in US Border Patrol custody: “The answer is not just ‘don’t come’ … Shame on the Congress” https://t.co/FUqtMIjwYP pic.twitter.com/opbfmlI4FU

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 14, 2018

Kasich said in another interview Friday with The Associated Press that he is “seriously” considering a run for the GOP nomination in 2020 against President Trump, but conceded that in the current political climate he would be unlikely to defeat the president in a Republican primary.

“If you’re going to run as a Republican you have to have a sense that if you get into primaries you can win. Right now, probably couldn’t win,” he said. “But that’s today. It’s ever changing.”

“It’s not like I wouldn’t do it,” he added to the AP. “You can’t be afraid to do it.”