Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s agency is ripping babies and children from the arms of immigrant parents crossing the U.S./Mexico border, but apparently it’s the horror of Donald Trump yelling at her for not doing it fast enough that nearly caused her to resign from her job:
Ms. Nielsen, who is a protégée of John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has drafted a resignation letter but has not submitted it, according to two of the people. As the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Ms. Nielsen is in charge of the 20,000 employees who work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mr. Trump’s anger toward Ms. Nielsen, who was sitting several seats to his left at the meeting, was part of a lengthy tirade in which the president railed at his cabinet about what he said was its lack of progress toward sealing the country’s borders against illegal immigrants, according to one person who was present at the meeting.
There’s plenty of reasons for Nielsen to tender her resignation, and getting yelled at by the white supremacist in chief doesn’t rank in the top 10, top 50, or even top 100. Under Trump, mass deportation agents have been unleashed and DHS has instituted cruelty as official day-to-day practice:
- Made hundreds of thousands of immigrants who had permission to live and work here, deportable
- Eliminated policy that released some pregnant immigrant women from detention, now keeping more locked up at risk of their and their child’s health
- Formalized a policy that has so far separated at least 700 children from their immigrant parents at the border since last October
- Denied asylum-seekers the chance to petition for asylum at U.S. ports of entry, as enshrined under the law
- Targeted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients for arrest, even forging documentation accusing them of being gang members
Just days ago, the Trump administration admitted that they had somehow lost track of 1,500 migrant kids that had been placed with U.S. sponsors, putting them at risk of human trafficking and other abuse. Yes, our government has lost children, and new policy could mean they lose even more. But it’s getting yelled at that was too much for Nielsen, despite knowing exactly what she signed up for. Snowflake.