DHS Secretary Claims There’s No Family Separation Policy, ‘Period'

Last week, DHS announced that nearly 2,000 kids had been separated from their parents during a six-week period ending last month.
LOADINGERROR LOADING

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended her agency’s role at the U.S. border with Mexico on Sunday, saying there was no family separation policy.

“This misreporting by members, press and advocacy groups must stop,” Nielsen wrote in a series of tweets Sunday evening. “It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said there was no agency policy of separating families at the border, "period."
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said there was no agency policy of separating families at the border, "period."
Bloomberg via Getty Images

Nielsen’s comments come amid growing criticism over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ new “zero-tolerance” policy at the border to prosecute as many people as possible for illegally entering the U.S., even if it means tearing families apart.

Last week, DHS announced that nearly 2,000 kids had been separated from their parents during a six-week period ending last month. Many of those children are being held in juvenile detention centers.

DHS even published guidelines on its website last week clarifying how such separations take place.

Several White House officials have defended the U.S. stance on illegal border crossings. Last week, White House adviser Stephen Miller appeared to characterize the ongoing separations as a “simple decision” by the Trump administration to combat unauthorized border crossings.

“No nation can have the policy that whole classes of people are immune from immigration law or enforcement,” he told The New York Times. “It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.”

An unnamed White House official also alluded to The Washington Post that Trump was using the enforcement to force lawmakers to pass new immigration laws.

“The president has told folks that in lieu of the laws being fixed, he wants to use the enforcement mechanisms that we have,” the official told the newspaper. “The thinking in the building is to force people to the table.”

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway also acknowledged the existence of the policy in an interview with NBC on Sunday, although she said “nobody” liked it. And last week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited the Bible as justification “to enforce the law.”

Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that changing immigration detention policy to deter unauthorized border-crossing is illegal. To date, Nielsen has avoided characterizing the new policy as a deterrent or even as a policy at all.

Her latest tweets prompted a widespread outcry from critics on Twitter:

President Donald Trump has blamed Democrats for his own administration’s policy, accusing the party of hosting a “horrible and cruel legislative agenda.” But there is no law that requires families to be separated for crossing the border, and previous administrations often made exceptions in such cases to keep children and their parents together.

Trump also appeared to confirm that there was some “breakup of families” at the border this weekend, even as he shirked the blame:

Before You Go

LOADINGERROR LOADING
Close

What's Hot