As the backlash to the Trump administration’s child separation policy grows, Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California called for the immediate resignation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
“I think she should resign,” the Democratic senator said. “I think she is not equipped based on her conduct, based on the procedures and the policies she is promulgating.”
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Sen. @KamalaHarris says DHS Secretary Nielsen should step down over cruel immigration crackdown. #ctl #p2 #Trump #Immigration pic.twitter.com/KhB2uzzYxU
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— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 18, 2018
The potential 2020 presidential candidate let loose on Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security:
I think she should resign. I think she is not equipped based on her conduct, based on the procedures and the policies that she is promulgating. I don’t think she is equipped to do the job the way that it needs to be done, which is that there should be values that are at play that are consistent with who we say we are as Americans. The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing families apart. Not tearing children from their parents. Cases that’s we’ve heard of a child being breastfed and taken from their mother. The horrible case of this father, right before Father’s Day, who ended up committing suicide after his toddler was taken from him. This is unnecessary. It is something the administration visited upon themselves and they need to end it. She has not had the courage or the ability to stand up and say, you know what? I have the discretion and I’m going to exercise discretion in the right way that is reflective of the values of who we are as Americans. She needs to go.
Sen. Harris is right: Nielsen needs to go
The policy of breaking up families at the border, leaving thousands of kids in what amount to concentration camps, is cruel enough, but Secretary Nielsen doubled down on Monday.
“We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” she said. “Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards.”
But that’s where she’s wrong. The American people do not support this policy, as a new poll released by Quinnipiac showed today. It’s inhumane and it flies in the face of American values.
As Sen. Harris said on Monday, the secretary has a choice. She could use her authority as head of the DHS to end this practice today, instead of appeasing her compassionless boss – but she refuses to. Worse, she is touting it.
Kirstjen Nielsen needs to end this policy, or immediately resign.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.