Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign Monday in light of the Trump administration separating families crossing the border illegally. Harris referred to these practices as “human rights abuses.”
“Under her watch, our government has committed human rights abuses by breaking up families along the southern border,” Harris claimed in a tweet. “And she has failed to be accountable to and transparent with the American people.”
I’m calling on Kirstjen Nielsen to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security. Under her watch, our government has committed human rights abuses by breaking up families along the southern border. And she has failed to be accountable to and transparent with the American people.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 18, 2018
"The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart," Harris added in a statement. "And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under Secretary Nielsen's tenure, the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of neither. As a result, she must resign."
In a speech Monday, Nielsen responded to the narrative that the Trump administration is cruelly separating families at the border.
"To a select few in the media, Congress and the advocacy community, I'd like to start with a message for you," she said. "This Department will not longer stand by and watch you attack law enforcement for enforcing the laws passed by Congress. We will not apologize for the job we do."
"Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards," she emphasized.
“I have also made clear you do not need to break the law of this country by entering illegally to claim asylum,” she added. “If you are seeking asylum, go to a port of entry.”
Harris also claimed Monday that the Trump administration wants "to make it harder to apply for asylum."
They have also separated families at the ports of entry - and despite encouraging people to go to the ports to apply for asylum, they want to make it harder to apply for asylum.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 18, 2018
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