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kirstjen nielsen
'Damning' New IG Report, Says ACLU, Shows Just How Far Trump Team 'Was Willing to Go to Destroy' Immigrant Families
"Just when you think the Trump administration can't sink any lower, it does."
Jan 13, 2021
As a former leading U.S. Justice Department official on Thursday said he regretted the role he played in the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" migrant family separation policy in the wake of a scathing inspector general report, human and civil rights groups pointed to the probe's findings as "damning" proof of the administration's cruelty toward people seeking refuge in the United States.
"The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there. These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again."
--Lee Gelernt, ACLU
The inspector general's report (pdf) concluded that President Donald Trump, ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and other senior officials were woefully unprepared when U.S. agents started seizing thousands of migrant children from their asylum-seeking parents and relatives who were often imprisoned in concentration camps after entering the United States, first in a 2017 DOJ pilot program and then nationwide the following year.
The report, based on interviews with dozens of DOJ officials and a review of over 200,000 emails and other electronic files, directly implicates Trump in the disastrous policy. It also found that senior administration officials were "fully aware" that the policy would result in children being separated from their families but pressed ahead with it anyway.
\u201cThe cruelty is the point. \n\nThis administration\u2019s unconscionable family separation policy will forever be a stain on our nation\u2019s history.\n\nhttps://t.co/9dscvdoxC4\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1610651249
In response to the report, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thusday released a statement of regret.
"Since leaving the department, I have often asked myself what we should have done differently, and no issue has dominated my thinking more than the zero tolerance immigration policy," Rosenstein toldNBC News. "It was a failed policy that never should have been proposed or implemented. I wish we all had done better."
The ACLU--which successfully sued to block family separation and immediately reunite families--led human and civil rights groups in reacting to what it called the "damning" report.
"The barbaric family separation practice was immoral and illegal," said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer who led the family separation suit, in a statement on Thursday. "This new report shows just how far the Trump administration was willing to go to destroy these families. Just when you think the Trump administration can't sink any lower, it does."
\u201cThe more we learn about family separation, the more we see was both a willfully cruel and criminally negligent policy.\n\nWe must hold every person who created and facilitated family separation accountable under the law and never repeat this mistake. https://t.co/eIWf8S986j\u201d— Juli\u00e1n Castro (@Juli\u00e1n Castro) 1610647584
\u201cA reminder that those quitting on Trump now are the same people who stood by him as he cruelly separated families and caged kids.\n\nWe must do everything we can to reunite families, hold all those who caused this torture accountable, and humanely reform our immigration system.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1610665156
The new DOJ report's findings correspond with those of a 21-month House Judiciary Committee investigation published last October that accused the Trump administration of "reckless incompetence and intentional cruelty" in its implementation of the zero tolerance policy. In November, Conmon Dreams reported that 666 children--about 20% of whom were under the age of 5 when they were ripped away from their parents--remained separated from their families.
As a result of the separation policy, both parents and children--who were often told by U.S. officials that they would never see each other again--have suffered tremendous emotional and psychological trauma that Physicians for Human Rights has called "torture" and "state-sanctioned child abuse."
Some of the seized children have been placed in U.S. families, who are sometimes able to petition for permanent custody, and it is feared that some of the children may indeed never see their parents again.
In late June 2018, as public outrage mounted in the face of stories like a breastfeeding baby being torn away from her mother and a father driven to suicide after being separated from his wife and child, the administration reluctantly rolled back the policy--which, along with forced surgical removal of reproductive organs of migrant women has been called the Trump administration's worst domestic human rights violation.
During the 2020 election, President-elect Joe Biden vowed to form a task force to reunite all of the separated children with their relatives. Gelernt stressed that he must now follow through on his promise.
"The Biden-Harris administration will inherit the legacy of family separation, and we don't doubt that more horrific details will continue to emerge," the ACLU attorney said. "We need them to act with urgency--every day without action makes it harder to find and reunite families."
"The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there," Gelernt added. "These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again."
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'She Should Be Shunned': Fortune Magazine Holds Fast Despite Outrage Over Kirstjen Nielsen's Presence at Women's Summit
"Fortune needs to see the writing on the wall."
Oct 21, 2019
Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit 2019 is down three high-profile speakers due to the continued presence at the event of former Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, whose involvement in implementing President Donald Trump's family separation policy triggered calls for attendees to boycott the forum.
"She should be shunned," tweeted Florida Democratic activist Pam Keith of Nielsen.
Filmmaker dream hampton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile all dropped out of the event in recent days, with hampton and Carlile specifically citing Nielsen's presence as the motivating factor for dropping out. Clinton spokesperson Nick Merill toldHuffPost Clinton had a conflict, though an unnamed source claimed the decision was because of Nielsen.
\u201cWith respect and gratitude.\u201d— Brandi Carlile (@Brandi Carlile) 1571653236
As Common Dreams reported on October 11, news that Nielsen was speaking at the event triggered a boycott movement by Credo Action and other progressive groups.
"Fortune Magazine doesn't seem to get it," Credo Action campaign manager Jelani Drew-Davi said in a statement. "If they had listened to the more than 50,000 grassroots activists who signed a petition calling on them to disinvite Nielsen, they would still have powerful women leaders like Hillary Clinton, dream hampton, and Brandi Carlile attending their event. Instead, Fortune is left with a woman who put children in cages and self-inflicted damage to their reputation."
According to the event schedule, Nielsen is slated to be questioned on her time at Homeland Security by PBS NewsHour journalist Amna Nawaz at 2:35pm on Tuesday. During Nielsen's tenure, she presided over the administration's child separation policy, which the Health and Human Services department revealed Friday ripped 1,250 more children from their parents than was previously reported. That number is expected to be confirmed this week.
\u201cThe Trump administration is expected to confirm this number in court this upcoming week ... the same week that @FortuneMPW will feature former DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen as a summit headliner.\n\nShame.\n\nhttps://t.co/sUVBOEzIUZ #NoSoftLanding\u201d— Gabe Ort\u00edz (@Gabe Ort\u00edz) 1571614289
In a statement, Fortune spokesperson Alison Klooster defended the inclusion of Nielsen and said that because powerful women have "strong views about how the U.S. administration has handled its immigration policy," the forum provided the opportunity to confront one of those "effectively responsible" for the policy.
"We brought in Amna Nawaz from PBS NewsHour to do the interview with the clear understanding that this would be a no-holds-barred interview, and that there would be an opportunity for our MPW members to ask questions, as well," said Klooster. "That's how we practice live journalism."
But that reasoning didn't please Credo's Drew-Davi, who called the justification insufficient to provide Nielsen with a platform.
"Fortune needs to see the writing on the wall, stop hiding their bad decision behind the First Amendment, and show real journalistic integrity by canceling the Nielsen session immediately," said Drew-Davi.
Remaining attendees Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), lawyer Anita Hill, former ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, and actress Eva Longoria were under pressure Monday on social media to join hampton, Carlile, and Clinton in dropping out of the event.
\u201c.@TulsiGabbard, as someone who strongly supports the #KeepFamiliesTogether Act, why are you helping Kirstjen Nielsen, the person who implemented the family separation policy, normalize what she did to immigrant families at #FortuneMPW? #NoSoftLandings\u201d— Define American (@Define American) 1571681754
In a tweet, lawyer Scott Hechinger expressed his dismay that Nielsen was being honored as a "powerful woman."
"How could they not just normalize her, but lionize her?" Hechinger wondered.
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Calls Grow for Fortune Magazine to Rescind Kirstjen Nielsen Invitation to 'Women in Power' Summit
"Fortune should not be giving Nielsen, or others like her, a platform to rehabilitate her appropriately damaged reputation."
Oct 11, 2019
Progressives are decrying a decision by Fortune Magazine to feature Kirstjen Nielsen, the former secretary of Homeland Security whose tenure was marked by child separation, child detention, and other harsh anti-immigration measures promoted by President Donald Trump, as a speaker at the company's Most Powerful Women Summit 2019.
"Kirstjen Nielsen does not deserve to have a platform at Fortune's MPW Summit," said Restore Public Trust's Karl Frisch. "Nielsen helped carry out Trump's horrific family separation policy. On Nielsen's watch, children taken from their families were abused and sexually assaulted. Some even died. Fortune should not be giving Nielsen, or others like her, a platform to rehabilitate her appropriately damaged reputation."
In September, as Common Dreams reported, Nielsen dropped out of a previously planned appearance at The Atlantic Ideas Conference due to public outcry over The Atlantic Magazine hosting her and "providing a platform to people who worked hand-in-hand with Trump to separate families, lock babies up in cages, and terrorize communities of color."
\u201cOUTRAGEOUS. @FortuneMagazine plans on having Kirstjen Nielsen speak at its Most Powerful Women Summit on Oct 21-23.\n\nNielsen separated immigrant families for the Trump admin & lied about it.\n\n#NoSoftLanding means no platform to ANYONE who helped prop up this bigotry. #FortuneMPW\u201d— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@Bend the Arc: Jewish Action) 1570804373
On Tuesday, Nielsen rejoined the Trump administration after the president appointed her to his National Infrastructure Advisory Committee.
The Fortune summit, which features other politicos such as former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former U.N. ambasssador Susan Rice, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), and others, will be held from October 21 to 23 in Washington, D.C.
According to the summit's website, it "has evolved into the world's most extraordinary leadership community, convening the preeminent women in business--along with select leaders in government, philanthropy, education, and the arts--for wide-ranging conversations that inspire and deliver practical advice."
Frisch, of Restore Public Trust, said that he doubted Nielsen was the right person for the job.
"After helping to put migrant kids in cages during her tenure with the Trump administration," said Frisch, "Nielsen's ability to offer 'practical advice' to attendees at this conference is questionable at best."
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