DHS Secretary: Reports of Alleged Separation of Alien Families “Irresponsible and Unproductive”

by Warren Mass June 18, 2018

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen (shown) fired back at the numerous media reports during the past few days that accused the Trump administration of separating illegal alien families apprehended at the U.S.-Mexican border. Nielsen sent several tweets on June 17 defending the administration’s policies and expressing outrage at the way the press has reported those policies. Among them were:

This misreporting by Members, press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry…. You are not breaking the law by seeking asylum at a port of entry.

Nielsen also reassured those concerned about the well-being of minors in custody by saying: “DHS takes very seriously its duty to protect minors in our temporary custody from gangs, traffickers, criminals and abuse.”

A May 29 Breitbart report revealed that many of the minors being apprehended at the border are not actually traveling with their families. The report noted:

Through a series of legal loopholes, minors are smuggled through the southern border with illegal aliens posing as family units in order to eventually be released into the country through the “Catch and Release” program. Catch and Release allows foreign nationals to be released into the U.S. while they await immigration and asylum hearings through these legal loopholes.

The report cited President Trump’s senior adviser, Stephen Miller, who said the migration patterns from Central America to the United States of unaccompanied minors and illegal aliens posing with children as family units are evidence that trafficking organizations are taking advantage of loopholes in U.S. immigration law.