House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday morning that a bill to provide emergency funding for the child migrant crisis at the Southern border should not be tied to changes in a 2008 human trafficking law.  

“You want to have a separate bill on 2008? Discuss it there. But don’t hold the children hostage to the cosmetics of how tough you are on the border,” Pelosi said at a news conference Friday morning.  

The trafficking law is a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans arguing that changes in the law would expedite deportations of the tens of thousands of children at the border and Democrats saying such changes would infringe upon a child’s right to due process.  

“There’s no reason why they have to be tied and I hope that the Republicans will come to that conclusion,” Pelosi said. She later added, “I very firmly believe that it would be a mistake to do immigration law on a supplemental bill.”

Pelosi said changing the 2008 law should go through a proper review, including congressional hearings to analyze the proposal and its effects, and not be tacked onto an appropriations bill.  

While Pelosi did not explicitly reject changing to the 2008 trafficking law itself, she repeatedly emphasized that the supplemental funding bill and a change in the 2008 law should be addressed separately.  

Pelosi said Democrats would carefully review the Republican’s final proposal when it is introduced. But she also said that she would support the president’s original proposal as well as the Senate Democrats’ proposal , even though the Senate put forth less funding that the president requested.  

“Either one of those two bills is what I would support,” she said.  

With the month-long August recess just days away, Pelosi said she is still hopeful that an agreement can be reached about the emergency funding.  

“I believe it’s possible that they can come forth with something where we can find common ground,” Pelosi said.