Home Don Beyer calls for resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
Local

Don Beyer calls for resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

Contributors

Don BeyerRep. Don Beyer today called for the resignation of Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump Administration.

Beyer said:

“Yesterday I witnessed firsthand the cruelty being inflicted upon people seeking asylum in the United States by our own government. The distraught fathers I met at a detention facility represented only two of the thousands of families which have suffered under the Trump Administration’s family separation policy, but their stories were deeply disturbing.

“Both fathers had been separated from their young children for months without being able to even speak to them, a hardship I cannot imagine as a parent. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials I met at their detention center had not been provided basic family details about these men and other detainees by Customs and Border Patrol, which apprehended them. Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen administers both agencies, within the Department of Homeland Security, and she is ultimately responsible for the inhumane treatment caused by her own failure of leadership.

“Secretary Nielsen has become the public face of an immoral and deeply unpopular policy. At the same time, she has strained Americans’ trust in government by repeatedly denying that the family separation policy existed, even as that policy was touted by her colleagues in the White House and brandished by President Trump and Attorney General Sessions.

“The time has come for Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign. If she will not resign, she should be fired by the President.”

Rep.  Beyer visited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) affiliated facility yesterday, where he met with Carlos and Mario (last names withheld for their protection), fathers of a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, who had been separated from their children without contact for months. More details of that visit are available here.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.

Latest News

uva tony bennett staff
Sports

Virginia on short turnaround for First Four: ‘It was a crazy 48 hours for us’

tony bennett uva basketball
Sports

Tony Bennett on NC State loss: ‘I believe I made a mistake at the end of the game’

Credit to Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who on Monday, talking with reporters on the eve of his team’s First Four NCAA Tournament game, copped to the strategic mistake in the OT loss to NC State last week that put his team’s season on the brink.

uva basketball beekman dunn
Sports

Virginia most certainly earned its NCAA Tournament bid: But what does it do with it?

Virginia will tip off with Colorado State Tuesday night in a First Four NCAA Tournament game, and despite what resident AFP chucklebum Scott German has to say, the Cavaliers absolutely deserve to be here.

chris graham acc hoops
Sports

Podcast: AFP editor Chris Graham is in Dayton with Virginia in the First Four

ncaa tournament
Sports

Scott German: Virginia clearly didn’t deserve an NCAA Tournament bid

job interview
Economy, Virginia

Virginia Works: Unemployment claims return to pre-COVID-19 levels

Arts & Culture, Virginia

‘National models for aviation and the arts’: Two young Virginia artists qualify in global contest