Following outrage over the attempted rehabilitation of a Trump official who helped carry out the state-sanctioned kidnapping of children at the southern border, The Atlantic Festival said that former Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen has backed out of her appearance at the event. “Nielsen's team has let us know that she is no longer able to participate in the interview,” the festival’s communications arm tweeted.
Good—but she never should have been invited in the first place. Nielsen’s role in implementing the administration’s inhumane family separation policy will be remembered as one of the darkest times in modern U.S. history. Under the inhumane policy, nearly 3,000 children were stolen from their families at the border, and the vast majority were returned to their families only because the administration was forced to under court order. Some kids, however, remain separated. Nielsen, meanwhile, lied about it to our faces.
Decent people were then understandably infuriated when The Atlantic touted its invitation to Nielsen in a press release, saying that she would be interviewed “about, among other things, the Trump administration’s immigration policy, which she implemented as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.” The Atlantic communications department then remained silent in response to public backlash, as Nielsen’s name appeared to be absent from the website even as the press release listed her appearance.
Then, on Friday, Nielsen bowed out. “Glad she's not getting this platform to rehabilitate her image,” tweeted Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, “but she shouldn't have ever been invited.” CREDO Mobile tweeted, “Other institutions thinking about providing a platform to people who worked with Trump to rip apart migrant families should know that the public backlash will be swift and powerful.”