President Donald Trump offered to pardon U.S. government officials who broke the law to implement his immigration policy, a former top official in the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday in a new advertisement released by the group Republican Voters Against Trump.
"It was April of 2019. We were down at the border, and the president said to the senior leadership of the Homeland Security Department behind the scenes, we should not let anyone else into the United States," said Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at DHS from 2017-2019.
"And even though he had been told on repeated occasions that the way he wanted to do it was illegal, his response was to say, 'Do it. If you get in trouble, I'll pardon you.'"
Taylor formally endorsed Joe Biden for president last week. He said what he witnessed under the current administration is "frightening."
"It was made clear to the president that it was against the law for us to simply deny anyone entry across the Southern border, including anyone who was fleeing violence, persecution, danger," Taylor said in the ad.
"Under the law, they had the right to come in and try to seek refuge in the United States. He said, 'I don't care.' His exact words were: 'The bins are full.' [Trump] said, 'I don't care.' His exact words were, 'The bins are full.'"
Taylor and a group of former U.S. officials, advisers, and conservatives organized by people who worked in the current administration have formed a group against Trump called the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, or REPAIR.
At least two senior officials currently serving in the administration are joining the group, "anonymously at least at the outset," Taylor said.