Politics

‘I Don’t Regret Enforcing The Law’: Kirstjen Nielsen Responds To Question About Family Separation

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jason Hopkins Immigration and politics reporter
Font Size:

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday defended her involvement in a policy that led to the separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nielsen on Tuesday participated in the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, a conference that brings together many of the successful women included in the Fortune 500. Including the former Department of Homeland Security chief drew major backlash among opponents of the Trump administration.

The interview with Nielsen centered entirely around her time leading the department.

More specifically, the interview related to the Trump administration’s now-axed “zero tolerance” policy, which led to an increased number of migrant family separations. Amna Nawaz, a host of PBS NewsHour, asked Nielsen if she regretted signing the memo that led to family separation.

WATCH:

“I don’t regret enforcing the law because I took an oath to do that, as did everybody at the Department of Homeland Security,” the former DHS secretary said in response. “What I regret is that we haven’t solved [the border crisis], and what I regret is that information flow and coordination to quickly reunite the families was clearly not in place, and that’s why the practice was stopped through an executive order.”

The exchange between Nawaz and Nielsen appeared to grow heated at times.

When Nawaz said that the discovery of fraudulent families was “statistically insignificant,” Nielsen said repeatedly that such a claim was “incorrect.” The two also disagreed over how many migrant parents were deported while their children were allegedly left behind in the U.S.

Nielsen and McAleenan walk with Trump at border security tour in California

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (C) and commissioner for Customs and Border Patrol Kevin McAleenan (L) walk with U.S. President Donald Trump during a visit to a section of the border wall in Calexico California, U.S., April 5, 2019. Picture taken April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Nawaz also argued that Nielsen had since re-joined the Trump administration. However, the former DHS chief pointed out that her appointment to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council earlier this month was simply an advisory role for infrastructure and cybersecurity issues.

“None of us are paid. None of us work for the White House. We use our expertise to try and advise government on what we need to do,” Nielsen said Tuesday. “And by the way, so are other CEOs. I mean, are you telling every CEO in here that they should never advise the government on how to make something work?”

The question drew applause from the audience.

Nielsen’s inclusion in this year’s Most Powerful Women Summit drew backlash before she even spoke. Dream Hampton, a notable filmmaker, backed out of speaking at the Washington, D.C., conference over Nielsen’s appearance. Other women also withdrew from the event, and there was a petition asking that the former DHS chief be removed entirely. (RELATED: White House Deems Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Morgan Ineligible To Lead DHS)

President Donald Trump picked Nielsen to lead the Department of Homeland Security early into his administration, but she resigned in April, leaving now-acting DHS chief Kevin McAleenan to fill the role.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel