I recall when the White House told us the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were a crisis.
I just won’t believe Trump ever.
5
My most fervent wish regarding K. Nielsen is that if she has any wish or desire to bring children into this world that she be found to be irrevocably sterile.
4
The complaints about separating children from parents ring hollow. Under Obama, tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors flooded our borders. Talk about separating children from parents. (Cleary, those parents had no problem being separated.) Those minors were quietly dumped on unsuspecting municipalities, all under the radar.
No tears then.
2
This was such a frustrating article to read.
As I understand it our border problem is due to massive crop failures caused by severe draughts related to climate change in Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. This led subsistence farmer families to choose the arduous path of mass migration to just survive.
It is true there is a gangster problem but people seem to have adapted. It would appear gangsters' goal is to collect their "rent" from people and do not seem to think that too much violence is profitable for them.
The administration does not believe in climate change so apparently it cannot say those words and hence develop a solution.
Today we have climate change refugees heading north through our southern border.
In the future we will have other waves of climate refugees (may be from one state to the other) & I wonder how we will deal with them -- just build more walls everywhere?
What if one day we need to head south because things have gotten so bad here. What then -- I guess we tear down walls?
4
Whether there actually is a crisis at the southern border is debatable. The number of families crossing and requesting asylum is apparently at record levels, but the number of people crossing is not. In any case, this problem will not be solved by building more wall. These people are asking to be apprehended. They are requesting asylum. Most just go through the usual and legal ports of entry.
There are short-term and long-term solutions to this "crisis." Take the money and hire more border agents and train them; build more facilities to house families who seek asylum; Try to negotiate a deal with Mexico to increase facilities on the other side of the border. (It would help if we had better relations with Mexico.)
For the long term, the best solution would be to nip the problem in the bud. Try to help Central American countries solve their violence issues and their economic problems. The real humanitarian crisis is in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, not at our southern border.
6
trump created the problem and continues to intentionally make it worse. yesterday his DOJ ordered a freeze on appointment of immigration judges and staff.
6
You bet there is a crisis at the border -- and it is because illegal aliens learn fast that bringing a child with them got them easy access to the U.S. You need to deal with a crisis with emergency measures. I don't understand why it seems so hard now for Democrats to want to enforce our immigration laws -- as lax as they are -- other than it is to spite Trump. The ONLY reason there are so many families now, opposed to single men, is because of a loophole. Close the loophole. Look into serious immigration reform that entails reviewing what may be outdated asylum laws and chain immigration and faster deportation of people with criminal backgrounds, among a few. Oh and adopt the e-verify law across the land, with tough penalties for any employer who violates it.
8
@gmt
The problem is that democrats and progressive organizations have teamed up to fight every Trump Administration effort to curtail this behavior.
Opposing all measures is, in effect, promoting open borders, despite their denials.
1
This is the only "crisis" today's democrats are willing to acknowledge? One that can be used as a "cudgel" against the president?
Democrats remain firmly planted on the wrong side of the immigration debate, so much so that they are now wearing cement shoes.
6
International law states you must present yourself at a designated point of entry but I guess who cares about the law and doing it the right way, cause if you cross over illegally you get to the front of the line. That's the trick and scam of what's going on, they find the loop holes and exploit them, coming in mass groups knowing that if they max out the capacity of the courts and facilities then the get a free pass and get released. I didn't know that if you committed a crime and you have a kid then you get exempt from your crime or is that just for immigrants. Guess criminals here in the US should take their kids on more of their crimes so they won't have to worry about going to jail. Just cause you don't like the President doesn't mean you don't let the enforcement of the law take place.
6
Separating children from their parents is cruel and toxic
very hard to forgive people/policies that intentionally hurt children, whether they are Americans or not
4
Unfortunately, Democrats are shooting themselves on this and are increasingly out of step with public opinion. The latest Gallup poll shows 87 percent on Americans believe that illegal immigration is a critical or important threat to the country’s security, and huge majority favors increased border security (although not building the wall). The hard questioning of the Secretary only reinforces public opinion that Democrats favor continued illegal immigration and totally plays into Trump’s hands.
8
Krisjen Nielsen is only echoing what her boss tells her, that the immigration situation is a crisis.
To the taxpayer, this situation is a political stunt for Trump
To appease his base wand waste millions in tax dollars. To the active duty troops, it means that they pulled duty on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they have been told that they would be on duty at the border indefinitely, without having any chance to go on their scheduled leave rotation.
Way to go Don, you are the greatest actor and your greatest fan in your Trump World fantasy movie.
4
This makes me want to laugh, and to cry.."She also urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow the indefinite detention of families..."
3
Reading Kirstjen Nielson's testimony to Congress makes me want to scream out POTUS Trump's favorite descriptor used frequently at CPAC this past weekend. Instead, I'll just use in caps the word "BALDERDASH".
No different than averring the need for a "wall" to address the "border security" crisis created by Donald Trump, Nielson's assertions about a humanitarian crisis have also been manufactured by Trump's Cabinet Secretary and the xenophobic and racist policies by Trump. Nielsen is no different than Sarah Huckabee-Sanders - a paid liar and whitewasher of fact.
Get a hook and remove this pathetic person from this position of critical national importance.
4
Children are held in cage! Period. The President's "zero tolerance" policy has been famously in the news since mid-June, and nothing - NOTHING - has been accomplished. There was a statement assuring that all children would be accounted for and reunited with parents by July 26, but this has not yet happened. That wall which Mexico (according to Trump) would pay for, is still nothing but a pipe dream. Today, Kirstjen Nielsen, guest-starring in the role of Trump's Liar (alternately played by Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway) asserts that those cages are not really cages. If it looks like a cage and serves as a cage .....
2
Sorry, the catastrophe may not have been initiated by Trump, but it has been exacerbated by him and the very cold Ms. Nielsen. I don't know what to do about this, but it's not my job, it's theirs. But they don't know, either - and they're in charge! (What I DO know: it's not a wall.
3
What’s consequential is that we are treating new immigrants ready to work disgracefully. We are squandering the opportunity to welcome new friends, who have always thronged to America eager to contribute and succeed. We are seeding hate with our cruelty. How can you Evangelical Christians support this policy?
5
You have to take away the incentives -- birthright citizenship, inability to get a job (e-verify), welfare checks and health benefits, together with securing the border better. Unfortunately both Democrats and Republicans have not supported eVerify for their own political ends.
6
Smugglers will have a field day charging more to get people around the wall. Those at the border NOW were not smuggled in. They walked in on their own volition & asked for asylum. The wall will just force them to gather on the other side of the wall and wait out their turn to come in. The humanitarian crisis she alleges will then be behind the wall away form our view unless the wall is made of slats!
1
So not they are "asylum seekers" will that be replacing "undocumented"? The Democrats have orchestrated this mess. Caring for nothing beyond scoring a few cheap political points. The press has goaded these people on with false hope and promoted foolish strategies. Bring a child or two.
8
so as a parent, I van be arrested for child endangerment if u leave my child in the car for 5 minutes while I run into cvs to pick up their medicine. as a migrant parent trying to enter the country illegally, I can drag my child on a 1,000 trek, with no food except what I can find along the way, no housing except a tent if I'm lucky, then carry my child while I climb a fence or ford the Rio Grande, trying to enter the USA illegally. and that's ok and I shouldn't be separated from my child.for endangering them. someone, please wake up the sleeping people who see nothing wrong with this picture.
7
She's completely unqualified for this position - like most of Trump's appointees. The result are these egregious human rights violations impacting thousands of innocent lives under very racist policies. As one Congressman pointed out - 'would 'white' children have been separated at the border . . .', of course not.
4
By the late 1960s cheap and available land began to become scarce. http://www.tierraproperties.com/short_history_of_los_angeles
Immigrants and Their Descendants Accounted for 72 Million in U.S. Population Growth from 1965 to 2015; Projected to Account for 103 Million More by 2065 - Pew research
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/ph_2015-09-28_immigration-through-2065-02/
Nothing has done more to diminish the quality of life for the United States middle class through higher housing (land) costs, greater competition for jobs, lower wages, higher taxes to pay for greater poverty, mortgage fraud, medicare fraud, tax fraud, other crime, higher taxes to pay for indigent healthcare (hospital closings), higher taxes for cost of public schools, price of college, degradation of the military, depletion of resources, burden on the taxpayer and overall congestion than the INCREASE of and change in the nature (more poor, more criminals, e pluribus multum) of the POPULATION since 1965, driven almost entirely by late 20th century and more recent entry of migrants (immigrants, illegals, h1b visa holders, visa overstays, refugees, etc) their families and descendants.
2
Trump's opponents are ascribing a policy to him that is exactly the opposite of his actual policy.
As the NYT reported, the federal government's practice of separating families ended long ago. In addition, border patrol personnel and federal detainment facility operators were told to allow all separated families to be reunited. There have been complaints about the government being much too slow in carrying out Trump's reunification order but it's been months or years since any family was separated.
My impression is that many Americans -- not just the House members quoted here -- don't know this. They believe families are still being separated. As is usually true, if you read the article very carefully, it doesn't actually say that, but the impression one gets from the headline, and from a quick reading of the article itself, is that family separations are actually happening. Just the opposite is true -- or at least that's what the NYT has reported.
3
In a cabinet of incompetent and ill suited appointees, Kirstjen Nielsen has to be at the bottom. She has neither adequate qualifications nor based on her prepared testimony, intelligence. She looks under siege.
Solving our border crisis will take many people, working together to find solutions, from propping up our southern neighbors to hiring more judges to a better verification and tracking system to making new laws.
No one in this administration has any knowledge of or interest in doing anything other than riling up the base for the next election.
12
Ms Nielsen is fighting for her job. She will say anything.
1
The key to understanding the Trump administration is to add "not" to their statements.
1
Why the scare quotes around humanitarian crisis? The NYT has been reporting on these relentlessly for the past few days: sexual abuse of women illegal immigrants, deaths in custody, overwhelming numbers at points least able to handle - primarily due to lack of barriers at those points. It's a scandal that there aren't nearby hospitals for those crossing in remote areas! Never mind the citizens who live there that don't have access as well.
If any American citizen put their children through what these "migrants" do to improve their chances of getting what they want, they would be prosecuted and lose custody. But there are different rules for "migrants" - those coming and those here. And hidden in at least one article is the admission that the majority of asylum seekers are economic migrants.
10
Shouldn't she be pitching this to the Mexican government? After all, they're the ones who have to pay for it.
1
Nobody objects to border security; but when Trump wants to trample on us and misuse our taxes to satisfy his crass demagoguery (his 'promise' of a wall payable by Mejico' was and remains a big lie) one has to hope that justice will prevail, and stop the expenses when a physical wall won't make one iota of difference. Now, Trump is trying to steal money from other already scheduled services and goods, the military included, in flagrant disregard of the people's wishes (via their congress representatives). So, we have an unhinged, capricious, brutus ignoramus, trying to get away with murder...if we let him.
4
Ms. Nielson is not interested in procedures that adhere to The 1951 Refugee Convention. For 60 some years, our legal experts provided guidance to comply to the UN treaty; and now Very Stable Genius is Ms. Nielson's expert / director of legal & illegal; right & wrong; emergency & non-emergency; and now humanitarian & non-humanitarian.
Watching this puppet dance is the same as listening to the gibberish straight from Modern Day Presidential --- a complete waste of time.
Republicans continue to invoke The Shining City on the Hill as we set the "America First" standards. Trump as a world-class dunce will be replaced; and she/he can only be an improvement.
4
trump created the problem. the people are coming at official border crossing points. trump has no idea of what to do other than order the military to shoot people. thats the same thing that he tells people at his rallies to do to anyone who opposes him.
1
I’ve never heard of a humanitarian crisis responded to by slamming the door on the very people suffering the most. The lack of empathy is shocking and criminal. History will judge us. But that is how this administration has always behaved, trumpeting it’s xenophobia with pride. We are better than this folks. We are.
54
However bad the conditions may be in Central America, the vast majority of “asylum” seekers arriving at our southern border don’t meet the qualifications to be granted asylum. By coming in such large numbers, they are overwhelming the system to process these claims. As a result, those with valid asylum cases are not able to be heard in a timely manner.
Those coming without a valid case, often bringing their children, and those Americans encouraging this behavior are creating the humanitarian crisis at our border.
The US should do something to try and help improve the conditions in Central America. This will do far more good than trying to keep up with the ever growing flow of economic immigrants coming to the US.
So many comments suggest that the answer is to further encourage this flow of economic immigrants by improving their shot-term housing, healthcare and education. Where are the financial resources going to come from to support this? Do you really think these people will ever agree to leave on their own if they are released while waiting for their invalid claims to be heard? And once they’ve been living in the US, the progressive argument is that they shouldn’t have to leave.
6
The video I saw of this today showed large groups of people crossing into the US over an existing border wall. So more wall may not be the right answer.
3
In these hearings or otherwise, not one mention of diplomacy as a vital aspect of our immigration policy. Where are the conversations with Mexico to devise an effective pre-border region to care for and evaluate these asylum-seekers? Where is the diplomacy, and perhaps selective aid, that would help to improve the circumstances that drive these migrant flows? A combined diplomatic and humanitarian solution would be far more effective than the draconian measures this administration turns to first, would not impose the current human indignities, and would undoubtedly be less expensive to boot.
4
The proposed wall solution is not relevant to the sudden increase of asylum seekers from Guatemala. What has our State Department been doing to improve conditions in Guatemala so that people don't see asylum as their last resort?
2
It's instructive to recall that there is a long history of unregulated immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Notes the Library of Congress:
"Between 1910 and 1930, the number of Mexican immigrants counted by the U.S. census tripled from 200,000 to 600,000. The actual number was probably far greater. El Paso, Texas, served as the Mexican Ellis Island--a gateway to a different life for Mexican immigrants and a powerful symbol of change and survival for their children and grandchildren."
Now, the U.S. population in 1930 was a bit more than 122 million.
Somehow, America, with one third today's population, was able to absorb this human flood, among them my great grandparents ,without conjuring a crisis, as the current regime has.
I would argue that now as then, the U.S. could take in many hundreds of thousands fleeing Central America with no disruption or massive expense.
Those seeking asylum, history shows us, want to work. They don't come here intent on committing crimes.
But the Trump regime has bought into the notion that by making the trip north life-threatening with little hope of asylum, immigrants will be dissuaded.
That has not happened, nor will it.
2
Wall or no wall, crisis or no crisis, there’s one obvious thing we should do to help stem the tide. -- The penalties for unlawful and non-pre-authorized immigration must be oppositely correlated with the rewards of lawful pre-authorized immigration.
The penalty for entering the United States without prior authorization, or overstaying temporary authorization to remain, including coming to the border or any port of entry to seek amnesty or similar relief without prior authorization, should result in a permanent bar to a green card and citizenship.
If someone applies for asylum or refugee status outside the United States through normal consular or other designated channels, and are granted prior approval to enter, they would not face this penalty.
That’s not to say that those who apply for asylum internally or at the border should not be adjudicated on their merits -- they could still be granted asylum, and even a restrictive form of temporary or permanent residence -- but they would be permanently ineligible for a green card or citizenship.
Immigration lawbreakers and truly desperate people who decide that "1st-class" status in a "3rd-world" country isn't for them, shouldn't have a problem with "2nd-class" status in a "1st-world" country, and more to point, they should never have a choice about it.
1
The right to ask for asylum in the United States does not depend, now or at any time in the past, on how you arrived on American soil, and under some circumstances, you have up to a year after entering in which to ask. I have just returned from volunteering my time as a lawyer to advise those waiting on the Mexican side of the Tijuana/San Diego border crossing. There is a large scale effort to help people understand their rights, and the possible reasons asylum may be granted. The more information they have, the better they can make their own decisions about their path forward.
I also volunteered a week of my time in July working with parents that had been separated from their children at the border, and that had served a jail term (for crossing illegally) and then 60 days in detention with no end in sight. In both these groups, I found very few people who were purely economic migrants. For example, what at first sounds like the story of an economic migrant might turn out to be someone who is limited to only the most menial of jobs because of the color of his skin, or a woman who cannot get a job at all because she is part of an indigenous Guatemalan tribe. The first is discriminated against because of their race and the second is persecuted because she belongs to a group that is systematically oppressed. Neither is truly an economic migrant - both have the elements of a solid claim for asylum.
A wall can work, if it could be built overnight and be made 10 ft deep and 30 ft high. I do not understand why so many refuse to see this as an issue for neighbors to solve together. Our countries are not going anywhere and the gradient between economies is not going anywhere. This is a forever problem that needs a forever solution with PEOPLE, not barriers. Lets pretend that everyone agrees on a wall, fine. Are subsequent presidents and congresses are just going to keep throwing money at a physical barrier to make it bigger??
The wall solution is LUDICROUS and shortsighted to the point of not looking past the end of one's nose. Perhaps if there were a deliberate approach to do studies and indicate specific places for walls POTUS may get somewhere. But no, he just wants to say "wall is being built, take that Libs! MAGA rejoice!".
Are we saying that as a country, we will not accept anyone who is so desperate that they would walk through a desert and risk EVERYTHING for a better life? Are we saying that there is nothing in this country that could use some extra, hard-working human hands? Are we saying that we just don't know how to do anything other than lock ourselves in and pretend a problem goes away? Unbelievable.
4
Sec. Nielsen should find solace in the fact that Congress has or is about to launch several investigations on the many Trump made-up crisis, now in progress
Nielsen is pressing a nefarious plan. Close the border checkpoints to the point that very few asylum-seekers have a chance to make a claim there and then scream crises when families walk across the border and immediately surrender which under the current law would give these families a chance to make an asylum claim The country does not need a wall. The county does not need a wall, It needs far more folks to process the claims at border stations .
1
Yeah, she considered resigning. But you know what, she didn't.
“We do have the legal authority to do it, as I understand,” Ms. Nielsen said.
Ms. Nielsen, there are countless historical examples of nations establishing the legal authority to do things. Some of those things done with legal authority were unspeakable.
6
She's clearly out of her depth and should resign or be removed. That said, the congresswoman from CA who berated her, barely letting her get a word in edgewise, even if they were lies, isn't helping the optics cause. Just because this administration has attempted to make lack of civility a new norm doesn't mean people should fall into the trap. Ask your well prepared questions and let the person in the hot seat answer them. Nielsen's robotic, party line talking points and unsubtle attempts to sidestep will doom her far more quickly than denying her the opportunity to dig her grave with her own words.
1
I am a very liberal Democrat but the fact that 76,000 people are showing up at the border every month sounds overwhelming. That means 912,000 a year. How can any country absorb that many new people with few skills and no English every year?
For those who say there are so many jobs for them, I am not sure about that. I see at least 3 people selling crullers from a cart at the 59th Subway station and selling very few of them. So the new immigrants are trying to make a living any way they can and barely getting by. They are exploited by employers who pay far less than the minimum wage.
It would be more sensible to work with the Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadoran Governments to create more good jobs there and reduce the violence so people don't feel they have to leave. We need a Marshall Plan for these countries to help them move forward. But since the leaders are very corrupt we may have to get NGOs to develop the countries.
Our past practice of propping up dictators has helped create these sad conditions. Helping them would help us by reducing these large flow of migrants and refugees. After all no one wants to leave their own country unless they feel they have no good options there.
Already improving conditions in Mexico have led to net outflow there. More Mexicans leave the US than enter it. So the flow could be reversed.
3
If republicans really wanted to stop undocumented immigration they would make e-verify mandatory
The fact that they don’t means they love immigration as a poll driver and do not want to fix and issue that drives their voters to the polls
1
@Deirdre
And my own state refuses to participate in E- verify. It's considered cruel and oppressive.
2
@Deirdre
You are mistaken. It's democrats who are fighting its enforcement, claiming it might harm workers, etc.
1
How exactly is "building a wall", which will take YEARS solve an "emergency" happening right now?
6
It's sure easier to attack Trump and his administration than to take responsibility for the BIOFUELS we use in our vehicles and elsewhere. Our corporate plantations of african palm and sugar cane there are destroying the region and underlie these migration waves. Here, in Europe and in Asia, globalization is creating demographic/cultural and environmental crises. But Trump has that orange hair....
I fail to see how building a wall, which will take YEARS to complete at an absurd expense, solves a humanitarian crisis at the border NOW...
1
how would any wall or fence stopped these people from coming? we have had more come in the past, with no wall, or if there was some fencing up a the time still didn't seem to matter. our good folks in Washington DC know there are problems at the border, but have failed to do there jobs in passing up to date bills that deal with it better. even if the entire border has a fence or a wall, all that means is there were still 76,000 people at the border, which still is a humanitarian crisis that we would have to deal with. there are such crisis's all over the world we get involved, and guess what, no wall. America helps those who need help, that's what we have always done. That's why I am proud to be part of this great country.
Ms. Nielsen said in June, 2018 "The secretary (also) claimed that ripping kids away from their parents and holding them in detention facilities against their will is not a form of “child abuse.” That was then and this is now calling the situation at the border a “humanitarian catastrophe."
It is time for the American people to take to the streets in protest of this administration. I for one have had enough. Unfortunately, most Americans will sit on their couch and watch it play out and I'm afraid it will be too late.
1
A lot of liberals are approaching this the way conservatives approach global warming:
"I don't believe the numbers."
"They're making all this up."
"They're fear mongering."
"They're exaggerating."
"I don't like/trust person X so that means they're lying."
"Doing anything major would cost too much/ be disruptive."
"It's not our fault."
"If they think it's a problem, let them propose solutions, and then we'll see. But we might sue."
7
For a bit of perspective consider how residents of New Mexico feel when there is much focus on the medical needs of those coming across their border, while their own access to medical care is extremely limited? From the Albuquerque Journal [Feb.16]: "As of last week, not a single primary care physician in one of the state’s largest group of medical providers was accepting new patients...."
It's not just a border issue. Continuing on, "The highest average new patient wait times of any city surveyed was 52.4 days in Boston, Mass. Yet Massachusetts has more physicians per patient population than any state in the union...."
The most salient point regarding health care is essentially ignored: what good is even universal insurance, if there is no functional access to care?
Politicians on both "sides" mostly play to an audience addicted to viewing reality as a collection of simplistic, morally certain bumperstickers. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have plans to deal with this fundamental problem. They merely argue over terms of paper rights, ignoring the real world of peoples' experience. It boils down to a case of supply and demand: more patients expecting services than there are available physicians. Unless we create more supply, increasing demand merely serves to exacerbate the problem. Incentives for people to choose medical careers, to become primary care doctors, to work in under-served areas, etc. need to be considered as much as the issue of medical insurance.
8
@Steve Fankuchen - Republicans and Democrats are placed in office by American voters.
Americans, in general, aren't very adept at connecting cause and effect and understanding longer term consequences.
Proof: student loan debt, high cost of university, unaffordable rent, unaffordable homes, expensive and poor quality health advice, enormous national debt, massive poverty, . . . not to get into 9/11, wars in Iraq, transfer of US technology to China, . . . All the result of public policies enacted by politicians voted into office by Americans.
1
The biggest humanitarian crisis is centered on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. Solve that crisis and the border crisis will be resolved. Don't confuse symptoms with disease.
17
Funny how the Democrats love of European policies doesn't include their response to immigration. Those countries overwhelmingly use a merit-based system and due to an overinflux from the Middle East and Africa, Spain and Italy and finally even Germany have responded by closing their countries to asylum seekers.
The problems of Guatemala, Honduras, Syria, etc aren't problems of geography or longitude and latitude. They're cultural problems. These are failed states where a significant portion of the population has embraced violence and corruption as the means to get ahead. We can't let that spread to our own country.
20
@JP
There is a bit more to the history of the failed states, and it involves the US. Read Inevitable Revolutions by Walter La Feber - at least look it up on Amazon.
1
@JP Trump makes immigration a priority to excite his Cult; it works perfectly. Trump/GOP lying; gerrymandering; pushing NRA; tax scam for big business. Thoses are real issues.
1
@Erik Kengaard Are you implying that failing African countries are not related to colonial policies of European countries like France, Belgium, and others?
Kirstjen Nielsen is just another lying politician. These massive numbers of foreign families are presenting at the entry gates to request asylum. More wall does NOTHING to prevent this, these families would still go to the entry gates and present themselves openly to US border officials. There is a gap in logic here that even Trump supporters might verify.
11
If I was as conspiratorial and manipulative as trump and putin, I would wonder if they were behind the growing number of migrant caravans that are beginning to show up at the "border".
1
Those joining the Trump administration must pass a lie detector test; if they can't lie at the drop of a hat, they're out.
5
Behold, a woman who sold her soul and integrity to get compliments from a sociopathic carnival barker. This is what Hannah Arendt meant by the banality of evil.
15
I have very little regard for people who think taking children away from their families is a good way to solve an immigration catastrophe. What kind of mind comes up with such an idea? She needs to accept responsibility for the inhumanity of what she did, reject Trump's stupid wall as an answer to the immigration problem, and then she needs to repent, maybe leave her job, and do penance by helping to solve the root causes of why so many people are fleeing their homelands to come to America.
8
@huh
Agreed that separating young children from their mother is extremely damaging to development of the limbic brain (see Amini, Lewis and Johnsion).
So, how would you solve the root cause? Military intervention in Honduras? Foreign aid that goes into pocket of oligarchs?
1
As with the lion's share of catastrophes that have occurred during the Trump administration, this one was created entirely by Donald J. Trump.
7
Would someone please ask Ms. Nielsen what the Trump Administration plans to do with the thousands of children currently stored in tents at the border. Since they admit not knowing where many of the children’s parents are and have no real plan to reunite the families, what will they do? Keep them in the camps? Sell them? Give them away to whomever will take them? Do they have plans to educate them? I don’t know how whatever they do could be considered anything other than human trafficking. Every time I think about this crime against humanity being done in my name, I feel sick. What happened to us as a people who promoted decency.
10
@Finklefaye - I was under the impression that children were no longer being separated from their parents. I thought that action was brought to an end in June of last year by an executive order.
1
@Finklefaye
Flores v Reno set the stage years ago. The fault lies with congress and it's failure over decades to enact and enforce sensible (for the American middle class) immigration policy. Commission after commission studied the situation and made recommendations, and the power elite (the Church in the case of Nixon; Johnny Huand and 1.1 million in the case of Clinton) stopped them all.
@Finklefaye
If the Dems had not insisted that the children not be kept with their parents (who were returned to Mexico), the children would still be with their parents, or relatives, or coyotes, or whoever.
1
This wall is like a bad movie, it never goes away. A wall isn't going to stop anything, Trump wants star wars so lets use technology. first use a database to locate all of those missing children, and Ms. Nielsen really believes that the American public is so stupid that they would believe anything she states.
The emergency is this white house and people like her being in charge.
7
Just shoot 'em. Unfortunate optics but that will blow over. A little clean-up required but certainly cheaper than feeding and housing the aliens and providing delayed medical attention.
(To those with no discernment, this is SARCASM.)
1
The systematically humiliated and publicly berated Nielsen definitely has a serious, advanced case of Trumpian Stockholm Syndrome. She is but a step away from acquiring, literally, a leash from this White House. Sad, indeed.
5
It's not the migrant flows that have created a humanitarian catastrophe. It's centuries of exploitation and repression of populations south of the US border, sometimes with the participation of US actors, and failed drug policies there, among other things, leading to entrenched poverty, exclusion from opportunity, and exposure to violence that have done that. The idea that the Trump administration is somehow trying to wall off and shove away these conditions as they rightly influence US policy for humanitarian reasons is laughable. Obviously, the Trump administration disrespects these people and seeks actively to punish them for existing. We don't just see this on the wall issue. We saw it when he threw paper towels at Puerto Rico, and when he referred to certain other countries with an expletive. All of this goes way beyond an intelligent discussion of immigration policy. The problem is that Trump cannot address these problems in any reasonable way because he is a racist.
10
Ms. Nielsen is just another person who has sold her soul to remain with the Trump Family Mafia. After she goes, I hope she will experience extreme regret for her lack of character for the rest of her life.
6
Where is their ability, so much claimed by Trump, to solve problems?
This administration is collapsing under the weight of its incompetence.
6
Are the taxpayers paying for Kirstjen Nielsen's San Pellegrino?
5
This woman should be frog marched out of her office and sent directly to jail, charged with kidnapping and holding minors for ransom and losing children's whereabouts so they can't be reunited with their families. A few other Trump officials should follow her. Americans should realize that this fiasco is due to Trump administration gross incompetence, not only related to this issue but practically everything they touch.
7
President Trump has the authority to stop the entry of ALL aliens into the United States.
Title 8, United States Code §1182(f) gives the president the power “to suspend the entry of all aliens” whenever he finds their entry “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” It’s just that simple.
The Supreme Court recently affirmed this power of the President in Trump vs Hawaii.
The Court was very clear: “The sole prerequisite set forth in 8 U.S.C. §1182(f) is that the President ‘finds’ that the entry of the covered aliens ‘would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.'”
7
She's fallen in line with The Liars. Trena keep her job. nothing more, nothing less.
3
When is Sec Neilsen's referral to the Hague??
1
“We have a humanitarian crisis at the border, as a canal of incompetent but self-important thugs have taken the law onto themselves and are inflicting suffering on the weakest among us. The responsible parties can be found at 1600 Pennsylvania ave.”
- sec. neilsons testimony, has she decided to tell the truth for a change
5
The "wall" is so simplistic, Kirstjen Nielsen. Think about it, as you parrot Trump—
It's a four-letter metaphor for Trump's base to chant, just like "lock" (her up). They don't even think beyond the four letters.
7
What has become the dumpster-fire on our southern border is what is best for America in the long run in order to protect our future.
PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that almost 40% of US jobs could be taken by robots by 2030. As more people are replaced by machines, work hours must be reduced to maintain full employment. This reduction in work hours will eventually have to result in guaranteed incomes for Americans to remove them from the workforce. The living standards of our progeny will be diminished by the progeny of any future immigrants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/automation-davos-world-economic-forum.html
There are millions of Americans who lack a high school diploma and compete with immigrants for low-level jobs.
Employers prefer to hire immigrants because it makes them more money. A few dollars a day less for each worker means thousands of dollars a year in extra income for the owners; a good incentive to skirt the law. Businesses do not hire immigrants because citizens are not available; businesses hire immigrants because there are few American citizens who are willing to work under the slave-labor conditions which provide the greatest rewards for the owners.
We should try to help as many of our fellow human beings as we can. We should send foreign aid to help them fight crime, poverty and drought in their home countries.
We cannot solve the world's problems by admitting everyone to the U.S.
3
From what I’m reading even farmers offering $25-$30/hr aren’t having any luck recruiting native-born citizens to do field work. The problems are very deep and systemic and therefore, unfortunately, not amenable to simple solutions, let alone simplistic ones like a wall.
It troubles me that as Jeff Sessions was the author of zero tolerance and the subsequent family separation policy, why isn’t Congress interviewing him as well?
Not to mention his lying under oath to Congress.
He can still be subpoenaed.
So, where is he? Or is Congress still, at heart, a goodle boys club?
2
Let us congratulate the Trump Administration (and Trump Party) on their efforts to systematically exterminate those they classify as non-Caucasian.
1
Ah. Team player, par excellence. You knew she'd come forth with amazing stats. Where the heck has she been? What does she know about the abuse, the sexual attacks in her org? Does she care? Or are we going to play more numbers games with lives of terrified, indigent families? Yep. That's our policy. Nielsen and DeVos are of the same cloth; except Nielsen maybe is more cunning, less rich. And that can be fixed.
6
Build a wall to ensure people don’t die? Sorry there is no logical relationship between the two, there are lies only.
Build bigger detention centers so we can be like NK? No thanks. And yes, Kim CAUSED Warmbier’s death. In doing so Kim established there is ABSOLUTELY no consequence to killing Americans. SO yes, let’s talk about vanity walls instead of real issues.
Continue to employ a government of liars for the liars’ benefit? No let’s put those liars behind prison walls-those are walls worth talking about.
1
There is a National Emergency at our southern border. What is wrong with Congress? How could they not see what is going on? Everyone who is not blinded by pure hatred sees what is happening. Illegal aliens want to come here for the free stuff and as they bankrupt our country and turn people against each other they will eventually become a majority as they punch out anchor babies by the millions.
3
A medieval vanity wall is a pointless waste of resources for the exact problem she describes. We need immigration courts, and processing facilities. For a fraction of the cost of a hate fence we can fix the humanitarian problem.
Better yet - congress could pass the 2013 bill to overhaul our entire immigration system. It passed the senate 85-14 but the then Tea bag party run House would not allow even a committee hearing on it - if they fixed immigration how could they get the yahoos in a tizzie about immigration?
5
Eva Braun, you and your Boss ARE the Catastrophe.
Period.
1
Democratic Party wants open borders and more illegals for a future increase in voter count. They will destroy this country. This is a despicable act by the Democratic Party.
3
She looks so uncomfortable and weary in her assigned role of parroting Trump—
Just the mind-numbing "emergency, build-the-wall" response ad nauseam.
When is she finally going to Hope-Hicks her way out of this puppet job.
4
Yes there is a crisis at the southern border.
First blame should be on the dictators (aka Trump-like leaders) who are causing so many to flee their homeland for asylum.
Second should be on the idiots who continue blame the asylum-seekers for attempting to survive by heading north.
Third, should be the head-idiot (Trump, for those who can't figure it out for themselves) who thinks that wasting money on a wall will affect the number of people trying to save their children and their own lives by migrating.
If the US wishes to remain the leader of the free world, we need to figure out how to disrupt the dictators causing the exodus, and go back to proactively preparing to receive the immigrants.
6
Nielsen is a disgraceful racist and Trump enabler. She supports family separation with its life-lasting trauma. Nothing for Nielsen. Nothing for Trump. They created this mess. Not one bit of support should they receive.
4
Didn't those "cages" exist during the Obama Administration (i.e., the 2014 photo)?
1
Separate families, stick kids in cages, and you’ve got yourself a “crisis”. Then fudge the numbers, and, voila! You’ve got yourself a border wall.
1
There is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border largely because there is an even bigger humanitarian crisis in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. To solve the immigration problem we need to focus on the cause, not the symptom. The short term solution is providing assistance to those in need and to increase the number of allowable immigrants and refugees. A wall - not much help, if any. The long term solution is to seriously help improve the conditions in Central America. I'm sure it's not necessary to remind anyone of how the U.S. has contributed to the mess in C.A.
7
@Tiny Tim
Americans don't need reminding of the deeper causes because they don't really know them in the first place! Even more than the cultural impact of our military interventions and of our own gang and drug cultures, the corporatization of their agriculture by our multinationals and government and our own demand for their products is the real problem today. The region's small-scale and diversified, traditional agriculture is being converted into plantation agriculture that does not economically support rural communities and undermines their family-based cultures. African palm oil and sugar cane for the (mostly US) biofuel market is destroying this region. And our cars and trucks just keep on roaring...
2
Yes, there's a humanitarian crisis at the border, but it originates in Central America from which desperate families flee north, children in tow, seeking a better life here.
Their efforts won't be deterred by a wall any more than than they're deterred by a cruel and incompetent immigration system that has deliberately left people in a dangerous limbo at the border by slowing down the processing of asylum requests to a trickle and torn children away from their parents.
If Ms. Nielsen and her boss want to fix the crisis at the border (which I doubt), they'd do something besides whine about a wall: Increase the number of immigration judges and lawyers to speedily process asylum requests and make sure refugee families receive adequate medical care, shelter, and food while they wait. Looking at what the U.S. could do to improve conditions in Central America should be on the list, too.
Unless this administration puts measures like these front and center, all their declarations about wanting to address humanitarian concerns should be seen as nothing more than window dressing for the real policy of keeping brown-skinned people out of the United States.
7
I find Ms. Nielsen's assertion that every female child over the age of about 10 is given a pregnancy test incredibly alarming and creepy. Are all women being asked to take these tests? Wha, exactly, is the government doing with the results of these tests? Do the results affect the woman's/child's immigrant status?
10
This is what mismanagement looks like.
8
"This is not a manufactured crisis." says Nielsen
And yet, it's Sessions, Trump and Nielsen who mandated the no tolerance policy separating children from their parents.
And it was under Nielsen's watch that "metering" of asylum seekers was clogged, thereby increasing homeless camps along the border, thereby influencing desperate people to cross illegally in dangerous areas.
If your policies are creating the problems, your policies are manufacturing the catastrophe.
A streamlined procedure at ports of entry would quickly solve this "catastrophe."
Shame on you Nielsen, Trump, Sessions, Miller and anyone else responsible for manufacturing the high traffic, the camps, the clog of asylum seekers at our southern border. And, shame on you from separating children from their parents who sought asylum from dangerous places.
2
@PE:
Don't forget to add Kelly to the promoters of separating kids from their parents.
so now we have a female clone of DJT. the DJT administration created the catastrophe and now they have no clue how to fix the mess they are in - nor do they want to. the "wall" - any wall - will not solve the catastrophe they've created.
7
Doctors Without Borders, January 2019
"It's incomprehensible that this administration is using the dangers migrants face to justify policies that put those same lives at risk."
A humanitarian crisis demands a humanitarian response. Building a wall does nothing to protect vulnerable people who are awaiting overloaded asylum processing at the border. President Trump is attempting to sell his obsession for his wall with a new-found concern for the suffering of families and children who languish at the border. It is disgraceful to even hear the word "humanitarian" uttered by a man who lacks any empathy for others and uses the most vulnerable as political pawns. True humanitarian groups like Doctors Without Borders know how to provide compassionate and immediate humanitarian aid in crises around the world. Maybe they and other NGOs can fill in where the U.S. cannot or has chosen not to do with a calculated plan of action. Shame on Ms. Nielsen and the Trump administration for not acting with a sense of urgency instead of unconvincingly adding "humanitarian crisis" to their rationalization for declaring a national security emergency crisis. Their words ring hallow.
8
How much of this crisis is exacerbated by liberal media reporting encouraging immigrants to flood the border and seek asylum? I saw it during the famous caravan. CNN reporters were with the crowd and asking leading questions that had the effect of encouraging people to storm the border. They were leading them on.
But the media always says they are not doing any such thing. They are merely flies on the wall observing and reporting.
2
"'As a consequence for a parent going to jail, we in this country do not take the children to jail,' Ms. Nielsen responded."
I mean, I get that on an abstract level. At the same time, on a practical level, what is the correct label to put on the cages that look like dog kennels where children are housed and that have been photographed and shared by the press?
It's not "jail" but it sure is heck is practically the same thing. "Alternative jail"?
We don't send kids to jail with their parents, we send them to alternative jail all by themselves.
3
Those of us in Mexico and following the US/Mexican border onslaught are simply aghast that the US continues to open its doors to millions of economic immigrants from Central America.
These folks are coached and have learned to say they are fleeing crime, but then complain loudly that they are unsafe in Mexico.
I do not like Trump, but he's right, the US has a major problem on its hands and it is deeply divided on a solution.
5
Unless one lives on an island, the artifice of a border is striking. But there's no question about the crisis at hand: those who were not fortunate enough to be born within the confines of the USA and who now want to be part of our country must somehow try to make it in. Problematic is that we will soon have a billion or more people if we permit unchecked immigration. We need immigration to run an economy without the threat of demographic age pyramids slowing it down, but not everyone is welcome. And our gatekeeper came directly from Josef Goebbels' central casting in Berlin anno 1942, with her icy demeanor, expensively bleached hair and ability to effortlessly separate kids from parents. There is no excuse for Nielsen and she should be up on criminal charges for these acts.
1
20 years ago.....our local elected county Sheriff and County
Where will Nielsen work in the future? This charade can only go on so long...then she'll be cut lose in much the same way as Trump's two illegal, undocumented grounds keepers. 20 years ago, our County Chair (of Board of County Commissioners) decided to run for Governor . To gain support she also decided with the Sheriff we didn't have enough jail space. They manufactured a crisis, cooked the numbers, rallied the business community, rallied the DA, the law enforcement community, and spent 50 million on a jail. The problem was there were no identified funds to operate the jail and the demands on local jail capacity were decreasing. One year turned into 5, then 10...then 10 more. The jail sat completely furnished, but empty. The building was just sold for 5 million and will be torn down. Wapato Jail. Test book case of the immediate answer to an absolutely non existent problem....created for political reasons with no basis in reality..
4
Nielsen is a Trump/Fox stooge. She says whatever Trump and Fox tell her to say. U.S. policy is formulated in the back offices of Murdoch, Inc. Hannity and all the other far right kooks there are the real cabinet. So as long as Fox continues to scream about a nonexistent threat, Trump will take his cue and Nielsen will follow. If children, even babies, are taken away from their parents, then so be it. If it's ok with Hannity and Murdoch, then it's ok with Trump. And if it's ok with trump, then it's ok with the Republican Party.
4
The Emperor has no clothes on, and here’s another one of his enabler shills saying he’s wearing a tux! Lock her up along with him.
Yes, there is a crisis at our Southern border, but there are no armed (or even unarmed) hordes trying to cross. Is there anyone who actually believes Trump gives a hoot about the humanitarian crisis? Evangelicals don’t like HIM - they like that their social agenda can be purchased. White Nationalists like him because they see a fellow racist. The top few % don’t like him, but they like purchasing deregulation. The sole reason that “Democrats” are attempting to stop him is that Republicans won’t.
4
"Asked by Mr. Thompson if migrant families have been separated, and adults deported back to their country without their children, Ms. Nielsen said yes. She added that those relatives are given the option to return to their country with their children.
“To the best of my knowledge, every parent was afforded that option,” Ms. Nielsen said.
Is she serious? Does she really expect us to believe that parents were officially told "you can return to your country with your children, or not--it's up to you" and that even one parent, let alone thousands, said "oh, we choose to go home without our kids, thanks"? She and her boss have perpetrated an ongoing atrocity.
1
Nielsen is nothing more than a junior clerk elevated to head DHS by Trump to do his bidding. She has zero leadership experience for such a high level and important position in government. Watching her deflect and obfuscate is cringe=worthy like some junior high school student being questioned about why she didn't do her homework.
Yet she is into this full pelt. She has not resigned in protest. She is defending. Along with Trump and Sessions she should be held accountable by an international Nuremberg-like tribunal.
1
Come on, folks. Really? We're supposed to believe Trump or his sycophants about anything? This so-called crisis is of Trump's creation. He needs to deflect, deny an distract. This is the distract part. As for the border, I don't believe a word the Trump administration has to say. Sorry. Go sell the Brooklyn Bridge to someone else. No Sale, Donnie.
The Catholics and evangelicals are supporting these bullies we have as leaders like Trump Shamefull and disgraceful. How do you all sleep at night? I am sure Trumps GOP farmers are going over the border to tell these people we need you on our farms. They don't want to pay 15.00 an hour or health care so it would benefit them. Very sad . You build bridges to keep peace not walls.
1
It takes 10 weeks to get a driver's license in Cali, from picture to possession. In Florida it's given to you on the same visit. It takes weeks and/or months just to schedule an appointment with the DMV in Cali. Yet, Pelosi, Harris, Waters, Lieu, and other strong politicians in California are complaining about how fast processing is going?
1
DMV. Some cities have few offices. I’ve been able to schedule out a week. Some places walk in the same day and get in and out but you have to be strategic. Like anything if you go to the busy store then you get a line. Find the one that is less busy.
I also have a commercial license and they have always helped me quickly and effectively but I also go in prepared so they can do their job quickly as well.
On that last note. Zero tolerance and closed borders with no plan is the emergency. They never planned to process anyone because they were just going to throw them over the wall metaphorically speaking. Now they have to follow the rules because the dems are doing their job.
Otherwise release them and give them a date for the hearing. Propose comprehensive reform with visas and quotes and asylum options. Make a plan! Not a wall. Pointless!
I don't know why anyone hasn't mentioned that this policy of terrorizing young children is, itself, a national security threat because these young kids are going to grow to despise America.
5
Dear NYT:
It is really a shame that Congress cannot focus on solutions instead of this endless partisan blame game, while ignoring huge problems at home.
Among Democrats, Rep. Lauren Underwood exemplified the moral hand-wringing and failure to use logic to fix these problems.
“Tearing kids and their parents apart is immoral, ma’am," Underwood admonished. "It’s un-American and it’s just plain wrong.”
But in fact, it is very American. Our court system separates children from their incarcerated American parents every day, in huge numbers -- an estimated one separation every second of a work day.
This separation hits minority populations the hardest: One in four black children has a parent who is or has been incarcerated. While black participants represented less than 15 percent of the young adults in another recent survey, they accounted for roughly 34 percent of those with history of an incarcerated mother and 23 percent with history of an incarcerated father.
So it is not true that only undocumented children face this practice. It is, unfortunately, still the norm for how we treat all prisoners and their families in this country.
5
Indulge the following thought experiment.
What if, as the countries below the border and in third world countries around the world continue their descent, becoming full-blown failed states, 100 million immigrants decide to head for the United States. Or, 200 million?
What then?
More than 80 percent of the world lives on less than $10 per day. They used to be ‘far away’. Now they aren’t, and see what they are missing.
This is already happening, but in slow motion. What if the third world en masse decides to come here?
What then defines our nation, suddenly comprised in large part by illiterate people historically proven unable to create or participate in a functioning modern society?
Our society is more fragile than it seems.
3
Why aren't we working directly with the governments in Honduras, Guatemala, etc on humanitarian and economic development programs to stem this migration and allow these people to have economic and personal security in their own countries? In MANY cases, they are fleeing gangs and unending violence that is ignored or even countenanced by their (corrupt) governments. Use carrots or sticks with their leaders/rulers to make economic and personal security of their non-elites a priority
2
If an emergency exists at the border it is through the deliberate actions and inaction of the Trump Administration, particularly its disregard of long-established law and practices regarding asylum. Trump's declaration of emergency is like an arsonist complaining about smoke.
So there really is a crisis at the southern border!
Illegal entries at record numbers and projections that more are coming.
The system for processing those seeking refuge at legal ports of entry is massively overwhelmed.
Those seeking to enter the US know that chaos is the order of the day and are desperate to take advantage of our fractured border security and system.
Upwards of 90% of those seeking asylum do not meet the legal requirements.
Trump is mostly hapless in the face of a situation he did much to foment and exacerbate in the name of political advantage and gaming.
At the same time the Congress has little to offer but rehashed political rhetoric about the evils of child separation.
Time to suspend all asylum actions and seal the border to such entrants until the unmitigated dyer situation is stabilized and put back on a sane footing.
Lastly the Trump’s Wall is not the answer.
1
No wall will ever solve Kirstjen Nielsen's humanitarian catastrophe on our southern border. The people arriving on our southern border are desperate to a degree that most Americans cannot appreciate. We cannot keep them out. They will do ANYTHING to get here. Does anyone remember the risks people took to scale the Berlin Wall to escape the conditions on the east side of that wall? How many were murdered trying to escape? It didn't stop them from trying. Nothing will stop this exodus as well. I hope we don't stoop to the level of the communists.
Might it make more sense to put diplomatic pressure on these “ally” governments to get their houses in order?
If one actually cared then addressing the root causes: violence due to the drug trade and poverty due to climate change and economic policies (e.g., nafta) that make it impossible for these families to live with dignity should be the answer.
I don’t think the trump administration cares and would likely categorize these countries similarly to the moniker he used for some in Africa but let’s not pretend democrats are more caring.
Why does the US have any responsibility for the plight of these people? (1) our contribution to climate change (2) our insatiable appetite for drugs trafficked through these countries and our zero tolerance policies that criminalize addiction and poor communities in our country and beyond and finally (3) the support for political regimes over the year and currently (recall the military coup Hillary and Obama supported in Honduras) that undermine the rule of law and sovereignty of people from these countries.
It’s shameful the conversation is about a wall. Have we any common sense?
1
It surprises me that there is a huge new influx of asylum seekers in the McAllen area when just last week we were told that the Trump administration had worked out a deal with Mexico to keep people on the other side of the border. Why has Mexico suddenly released all of those people to cross our border at just the time when Congress is busy voting on a resolution concerning his emergency order. I smell a rat.We don't need walls. We need more responsive immigration policy to deal with asylum issues, and issues having to do with work visa's. Congress and the President must get off their hands and rewrite the law to deal with the dreamers, and those other issues.
3
If people are hungry and or scared with no hopebof a better life for their family they will take desperate risks. With a higher minimum wage and low unemployment the usa could increase legal immigration and do something about protecting borders. Take some of the money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan and address this issue.
As far as I can fathom these statistics of the crisis are coming from people who I do not trust to tell the truth.
The Republicans lie so often and obviously keep poor records, as they did when they often did not bother to record which kids belonged to which parents when they wrenched them apart. Think of all those kids who will never see their families again. And you know what? I do not think that was an accident.
And who is monitoring those child prisons? And who is making a huge profit off those cruelty camps right out of Dickens. I am so tired of the propaganda and those making money from peoples' suffering. What has happened to politicians who are not greedy and actually do their job?
Our Pope Francis says you build bridges not walls to keep the peace in the world. As long as Trump is being the mean bully like there leaders are doing we will see crowds at our borders. Very sad.
Kirstjen Nielsen should be answering questions under oath at the International Court of Justice.
Sounds like a national emergency.
2
When are they going to talk to Sessions?
4
The wall is a Band-Aid, and not nearly as effective as other measures. But rather than spend bottomless billions on walls, let us rather spend some on fixing the problem: the poverty and violence that drives these desperate people out of their homes. We need a Marshall Plan for Central America, but as things are, we seem to prefer blame and Band-Aids.
If the NYT were to be offered classified information by a government whistleblower that the border crisis was real they would sit on that information and do something the media never does, keep a government secret and continue misinforming the American public about something they have a right to know, the same argument the media always uses to publish classified information that they acquire from government leakers.
K Nielsen lost me when, tacitly or not, she approved separating children from their parents.
Separating those kids from their parents is cruel, inhuman and immoral. It takes away any standing this person may have anywhere.
To continue to show her stripes by parroting the WH occupant's lies and false conclusion is injuring our country and makes her totally complicit in his lies.
She should be shown the door out of any administration.
3
I fear that Ms. Nielsen is not capable of telling the truth. Very young children were put in cages. Those pictures of the children in cages don't lie.
1
She truly relishes her " job ". If not evil, at least evil adjacent.
Seriously.
1
"... and granted asylum and refugee status to more individuals in 2017 than any other country in the world."
This of course, is a blatant lie. It's a lie when you look at the absolute number and it's even more so a lie when you look at accepted refugees/asylum seekers per capita. Both Germany and Sweden each take in more refugees in total and even more so per capita compared to the US. There are probably many more countries that accept more refugees than the US.
1
This was the plan from the get go. You can’t get people to believe your lies- create a catastrophe by implementing all the factors that make it happen. So what if some families are split up, lost to each other. So what if we have no proper health care for them. I want that Wall and I want it now. And I don’t care who gets hurt, who dies. I and my cronies sleep very well. We have no morals. Trump and his sidekick need to go to jail quickly, before they cause more despicable situations. What a country!!!
If Trump had any sense of irony about him, he'd just pull every border patrol agent off the California southern border and let Gavin turn California into Central America north, which has been his and Pelosi-Harris' goal from day one.
It would be entertaining to watch the entire illegal immigration invasion on our southern borders shift entirely to Gavin Country.
2
“Smugglers and traffickers are forcing migrants into inhuman conditions, demanding extraordinary sums of money, and putting their lives in danger,” she said. “And vulnerable populations — especially children — are coming into D.H.S. custody sicker than ever before.”
How is a border wall going to cure these ills ?
Nielson: congress should allow indefinite detention of families???? Do we want the federal government to become the custodian of immigrant families indefinitely? I don't think so. This would lead only to more illness, death, abuse, etc., of those in custody at the hands of ICE.
Everyone's time would be better spent arguing solutions rather than is-it-or-isn't-it-a-national-emergency or the totally specious it's-their-fault-for-coming.
Quite arguing about the wall. Some places need fencing. Some don't. But clearly, under no circumstances is a border-long barrier cutting through ancestral lands, environmentally fragile sites, and family properties a useful solution.
Refugees, asylum seekers, and the displaced aren't going to stop coming to the US or anywhere else on the globe that seems better than what they're fleeing.
Not everyone can be helped, but many can. Not everyone is an honest victim, but most are.
Hold hearings now on what can be done. Fix American immigration laws. What's on the books now is clearly outdated and insufficient for the realities of life south of the border or within the US itself.
@Nereid
You might want to check the legislative record, but Congress appropriated the money the Trump Regime requested for FY 2019.
They wrote it all down.
And Mr. Trump signed it and everything.
The "Wall" is delusional sideshow.
Just as Trump's absolute failure to proactively work with our Central American neighbors through diplomatic channels, to identify and jointly address the underlying causes of this pressing issue, so too the comments of the weary looking Ms. Nielsen are nothing short of jaw dropping.
Apart from her express statement admitting that she simply does not know the number (let alone the names) of children and babies separated from parents and caged, is the statement that all girls 10 years old and older are given pregnancy tests.
Nest question should be- when the 10 year old is found to have been raped, whether en route or in custody, what will the party of "family values" have her do?
78
@r mackinnon One option is that the party of "women" can stop encouraging the journey thereby enabling the rapes. Too much to ask?
Over the last two years Trump has pushed the wall as his simplistic solution for border security rather than a comprehensive plan and he has helped to create the crisis we see happening today.
By not asking for more funding for more judges to hear asylum cases, by not increasing the numbers of border patrol agents and technology that can help the agents, by not creating better facilities on the border to handle the humanitarian crisis.
The president has separated thousands of children from their families on the border, greatly limited the numbers crossing at legal checkpoints so those seeking asylum are now crossing at more remote places, and he has not made responsible choices through our state department to help governments in Central America fight drugs and crime in their own countries and create jobs for those families who greatly need both work and safety.
The answer is not the president's emergency declaration which is his attempt to centralize his power, defy our Constitution and separation of powers, and undermine Congress and their power of the purse. The answer is to work with Congress for a bipartisan comprehensive border control plan.
3
There is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, and we need to decide how to best manage it. Very unfortunately, there is no obvious solution that would qualify as humane.
The Democrats favor what amounts to open borders. But, it’s hard to believe this would work, it would likely make things far worse. The truth is there are far more people who want to come to this country than we can possibly accommodate. The floodgates are already open, we must not open them further.
President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric is not helping any, but in truth his policies are more realistic than those of the Democrats.
It is counterproductive to blame Homeland Security and ICE for what is happening. The Department was formed in response to 9/11; they are a law enforcement agency, not a medical care nor a housing service. They are overwhelmed by the large number of migrants arriving at our borders, as are private and religious charities. We have to face reality: we cannot accommodate all who wish to come here.
It is also clear many migrants are abusing our asylum laws, and improperly putting their children at grave risk to try to gain entry to this country.
We need a rational, bipartisan immigration policy that allows us to accept as many immigrants as possible. Mr. Trump’s demeanor is not helping, but neither are the unrealistic demands and politically-motivated partisan name-calling by the Democrats. We should try to accommodate, as best we can, those already here.
2
Anyone who listened to her testimony with an open mind has to agree we have a very serious problem at the borders. It's sad that the Reps and Dems can't get together and pass some up to date and meaningful laws that can resolve current problem. Instead, nothing but potshots back and forth.
Our borders are not prepared to handle the volume of the people seeking entry to our country. That being the case, there is no question that one can find instances of poor treatment. There are going to be issues when you try to process thousands of people in facility designed for a hundred.
This hearing, as well as those last year, is further proof that once elected the goal of a politician to get re-elected and make political points over rides getting something done that helps the Country.
3
I just came back from a ceremony to welcome new naturalized citizens to the USA and during that ceremony the 45th president of the USA, Donald J. Trump also welcomed the USA via a video shown to the new citizens. Legal entry in the USA should always be the proper route and path to America.
With regard to the Humanitarian Catastrophe and crisis at the border. I believe the secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and I think all senators who want to secure the Southern border and serve out country to the best of their abilities should support the president to do whatever it takes to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe and for that reason I think the calling of the national emergency is fully justified. President Trump tried every possible way to change the situation on the Southern Border.
What are the 3-4 Republican Senators including our senator from Kentucky Dr. Rand Paul worried about in supporting the national emergency to secure the border in whatever best way possible? Some future democratic president will declare a national emergency to take the guns away from criminals and gangsters? Firstly there may not be a democratic president for another 6 years and if that does happens so be it as long as that democratic president is justified in doing what is best for the country and if that means taking away guns from criminal and gangsters and those wanting to harm others, so be it. Senators Collins and Paul, support what is best for the country.
3
One factor consistently missing from the trump and co narrative is time. Even if you accept a wall would help reduce asylum claims, and congress swung round and got fully behind a wall, it'll take a decade or two to build the thing.
The humanitarian crisis they're creating needs resources sent to the border, starting to slowly build a wall clearly isn't going to affect it at all.
1
Another case of the cure is worse than the disease. Things were a lot better before the current administrations shenanigans.
3
Trump said that Mexico is going to pay for the wall while campaigning for the presidency of the USA. He never said that the American taxpayer would pay for the wall. This is classic "bait-and-switch."
3
@John
Reminds me of Obama's pledge to cut the deficit in half during his first term. eh?
@AZPurdue, please provide the evidence for your opinion. Thank you.
"more than 76,000 migrant families crossed the southwestern border without authorization in February. That is more than double the levels from the same period last year."
So there is something to this "crisis", it isn't just political theater to distract from Trump's scandals. Those are enormous numbers. And at some point don't you have to start arresting people coming here illegally? If we don't make any effort to stop them, it will only cause the numbers to increase even more. And when you arrest people, you separate them from their children, every time. I wish Democrats could stop moralizing and see this problem as the tough conundrum that it is.
3
Donald Trump (with Jeff Sessions) created this humanitarian catastrophe when he decided to implement a zero tolerance immigration policy in April 2018 before there was any infrastructure to support such a policy.
This is exactly like what Trump did when he abruptly barred people from a number of Middle Eastern countries traveling to the U.S. without giving anyone a heads up so they could work out the logistical needs and vet the legality of his new regulation.
Clearly, Trump's operating method is to create a mess and then proclaim that he alone has the best idea to fix the mess.
Yes, we have long-standing issues with how we handle asylum and migration. But it is simply cruel to deliberately make a problem worse in order to push a political agenda.
We need serious problem solving that is humane and just--not "problem shock" to scare voters into accepting bad problem solving.
11
The Trump administration, and Nielsen acting as Homeland Security Secretary, purposelessly removed children from their parents with no thought of reuniting them.
Parents are deported, and their stolen children are being offered for adoption through Christian agencies.
This is human trafficking!
Return these children to their grieving families, and charge all administration officials who have been a part of this crime against humanity with kidnapping and human trafficking!
28
They are so concerned about a fetus but apparently not concerned after it is born. They make no sense.
really, the US government is adopting out stolen children via Christian agencies. now there is some serious fake news.
2
Secretary Niejljsen continued:
We have a humanitarian crisis at the southern border.
A concrete wall will provide shelter for all the asylum seekers.
Slats of Steel will apprehend illegals overstaying expired visas.
A physical barrier will prevent corrupt business owners from hiring and exploiting undocumented illegals.
A wall is the cure!!!
13
She has no idea how many kids have been detained by the department she runs. She is a Trump cult member through and through. Allegiance to Trump and unable or unwilling to do her job. Ray Sipe
21
As JR Ewing said, once you let go of your integrity, the rest is easy.
22
Of Ms Nielsen was going to echo Donald Trump. Can anyone imagine anything different?
6
What crisis? There's no problem. Open the gates and let them all in. Who needs an immigration policy? Better to spend time interviewing countless people to eventually get the "goods" on the President. Incredible wasteful clowns trying their best to ruin this country.
20
There’s obviously a migration problem, but there’s no problem that a WALL would solve.
1
So she tried to do the right thing and got yelled at. Not a good reason for becoming another of Trump's toadies.
7
Kirstjen Nielsen has used false immigration numbers before, now she just increased those numbers on Trump’s demands. No wonder he no longer criticizes and demeans her. The stress on her face reflects the stress of knowingly lying to support a liar.
11
Yes, it is absolutely a "manufactured crisis".
These people have traveled long distances in horrible conditions. They need water, food, and shelter. Some may need medical assistance. And it is an embarrassment to our great nation that they are kidnapping children and putting them in concentration camps.
13
@nofascism Correction: It is an embarrassment to their home countries, not our country.
1
Yes, they crossed the whole of Mexico, but need help at OUR borders. Why not her help in Mexico??
The Democrats are out to lunch. They do not take to sovereignty and integrity of this country seriously. i cannot vote for them until they do.
28
Your hero, The Donald, is the one that has no integrity and is ruining this country, not the Democrats. He and his Toadies are stealing public monies and destroying our government agencies daily. Clean the wax out your ears and buy a stronger pair of glasses.
1
It takes a humanitarian to deal with a "'humanitarian catastrophe.'" That's not Kirstjen Nielsen nor Donald Trump who cruelly separate children from their parents and place them in concentration camps and claim they are criminals, rapists, and terorists. Then idiotically argue that a "wall" of steel slats is the humane response. The Trump administration needs to treat people as human beings and to see those fleeing as a symptom of a massive failure of U.S. policy in Central America that we've helped create. This is where they need to focus, not Venezuela, not on a wall. If people felt secure in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras rather than threatened by murderous drug gangs, they wouldn't be seeking refuge here. In the meantime, money needs to be spent on processing those seeking refugee status here. That means more doctors, judges, lawyers, and facilities and not soldiers or steel slats. We could easily and quickly end this crisis at the border by setting up processing centers in cooperation with all Central American nations, especially Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama.
12
The more she explains, the more she needs to explain. Not unlike her boss.
7
The do nothing Democrats’ indignation is so reassuring. I’m anxiously awaiting their secret weapon. Impeachment. Right?
13
A billion dollars, people, that's all it would have taken to get Republicans to the table to agree on immigration reform. And I bet you they would have agreed on almost anything, too. This is what you get with Nancy Pelosi at the helm - she'd rather score a political victory than negotiate a set of reforms aimed at assisting the American people. What a shame.
13
That is absolutely not the case. Extending DACA is not immigration reform. ‘Border security’ is not immigration reform. The fact is that real immigration reform attempts under Bush, Obama, and now Trump have all been torpedoed by Republicans in Congress.
5
Go ahead blame the party that has had no say since this administrations beginning. Where were they last year, and the year before? Sitting on their hands. Letting this thug get away with literally shooting us all and getting away with it. How are your taxes? You got clean water? Lucky you.
@CG, if only hubris could feed the world.
i wish congress would put aside their irrational paranoia over trump and do what is right for the country in spite of him....stop illegal immigration
13
They had total control for two years and did nothing. And now it is all the fault of the Democrats? You people are so predictable.
I don’t care about a wall nearly as much as I care that children have been cruelly separated from their parents, all to “teach aliens a lesson.”
Nielsen is complicit in the severe emotional damage she has done and continues to do to thousands of innocent children and their families.
The only thing she cares about - and this is evident in this story - is that the president likes her. Like all the others, she cares not about what is right, but about what lies ahead for her, which, if history is truthful, is a book deal spilling all the dirt she helped manufacture once she is no longer in the president’s administration.
9
The historical data, published by NYT elsewhere in today’s issue, gives the lie to the headline, and to false memes and narratives promulgated by Republicans and by this Administration.
3X the numbers we’re experienced under President Bush; yet we never heard such cries of ‘crisis!’, nor was a National Emergency order issued.
The numbers dropped dramatically after the Great Recession, coincidentally during the Obama Administration; yet we heard endless cries of ‘crisis!’, apparently because political traction was perceived to have been gained.
The momentum from restrictive Obama-era policies gave the lowest numbers in decades during the early part of the Trump Administration. Now, foreign perception of an increased US economy appears to be increasing the numbers barely above the highest experienced during Obama’s eight years; yet it’s now a ‘crisis!’, and a ‘humanitarian crisis!’, which only a National Emergency and a hard wall can ‘fix’.
Hogwash. Lies. Deception. Cynical characterization. LOOK AT THE DATA. Stop listening to anything this Administration says.
The present uptick is relatively small. Upticks over the decades correlate first with foreign perception of the US economy’s strength, and second with policies and patrols. Deal with those realities, Mr President. Poor baby, didn’t get the wall your cronies paid you to implement? Then give them their money back, and stop with the faux crisis and crocodile tears.
9
And Secretary Nielsen certainly did not help this "humanitarian crisis" as she allowed her people to rip children from the arms of their parents, as she placed people in tents and cages, as she down-played the importance of good medical help for those she imprisoned, sacrificing the lives of several young children. She did not call it a "humanitarian crisis" when she allowed molestation and abuse toward teens, many through the hands of her own people and contractors.
This woman is doing nothing more than crying "the sky is falling" at the behest of her equally amoral boss. All for The Wall. Now we watch our weak Senate Republicans to see if they will cave so that they too can hold onto power for the sake of a too large segment of our society who are bigots and racists.
11
Law and order Americans are fooling themselves. The border will be assailed by wave after wave of immigrants. You'll need hundreds of turrets manned by tens of thousands of soldiers with machine guns for two thousand miles on 24 hour duty with huge sweeping headlights and infrared scanners. You’ll need to kill them all.
Why do some people think the desperate will adjusts their travel plans in response to the latest political initiatives or even to a wall? There are even some somnolent souls who believe that these people are shopping around for a place to live, like rational consumers.
The only solution---the one way to deal with this---is in the countries of origin. The elites repress their people freely with military aid we supply. The reasons are clear—they pay the foreign debt to our banks, and in return we give them all the support they need. It comes back, as always, to undoing the precious world order.
These immigrants have memories going back decades of the US as a refuge. I sincerely wish that all who think we can deter them with border security had access to a soporific “law and order” pill which would shut them up as they go into a blissful self-righteous snooze. I am so tired of hearing “just send them back”. What children.
1
there is no argument that can justify taking small children away from their parents for extended periods of time period.
7
@logical: Then we should stop convicting and jailing parents who commit crimes.
A $5bn request to provide humanitarian aid such as expedited asylum hearings, medical care, and yes, quick deportation where necessary would have easily gained approval from the majority of Americans and Congress. Instead, we go the cruel route and the problem is now worse than from when it started.
The only thing a wall can do is help us ignore the problem on the other side.
8
Trump said we can quickly deploy an army to Iraq in no time. We can quickly send supplies to the border. FEMA does a decent job of it after natural disasters. Take care of them during the short time they need to file the legal asylum claims, then send them back into Mexico to wait it out. Most will be rejected or give up. But legally they are entitled to file asylum claims. As human beings the least we can do is feed them.
4
Ms. Nielsen is accurate in that their is a crisis at the border. The wall is necessary not only re. illegal aliens but also the flow of drugs. But the wall is only part of what is required with respect to the illegal immigration problem. More judges and enforcement personnel along the border and the interior are needed.
Congress has to mandate Everify throughout the USA in order to upgrade interior enforcement. DEPARTURE CONTROL at all intl. airports should be instituted ASAP as is done in the majority of foreign countries. Congress has to permit DHS/ICE to enforce the laws that they put on the books. If we are to be a country of laws then we cannot allow Congress to ignore them in order to get more votes.
6
First, we have asylum laws for a reason. It reflects our humane values as a country.
Second, the humanitarian crisis at our border has a clear, fair solution consistent with our asylum laws:
Immigrants who have applied in the past to go through the asylum process and were released into the population in the meantime, have historically an excellent record of showing up for their hearings.
So, we should fund the holding facilities adequately to hold these asylum seekers and their children humanely during their initial few days, release them into the community to await their hearing, staff up the immigration legal system to hold their hearings without delay and process their claims quickly, and deport those who don't qualify for asylum.
6
@Jenny What do you do when close to 1 million poor people arrive within 1 year, with little education or job skills, who speak only an isolated dialect, who need clothing, food, shelter, and medical immediately? Whose children need medical care and education?
Who cares for them and their kids when they are "released into the community"?
23
You have a refugee resettlement agency help them find a low wage, low skill job that doesn’t require speaking English like a maid, kitchen worker or landscaper and put their kids in public school with everybody else so they can grow up into productive, integrated, well educated citizens who will earn enough money to take care of their aging parents and pay far more in taxes than were used to educate them in the first place. You know... the same way it has been done for the past 200 years! Do you really think the thousand of boatloads of people registered at Ellis Island spoke English and had lots of money?
1
So why has the catastrophe gotten so much worse after 2.2 years of Trump and Kirstjen, and why didn't he deliver his alleged solution when he had the House and Senate?
Or, as Lewis Carroll might have put it:
The Wall-rus and Ms Neilson
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of refugees:
If they were only cleared away,'
They said, it would be grand!'
7
Nielsen is correct that there is a humanitarian catastrophe on our southern border, but that was caused by the Trump administration and not because of the people trying to cross it.
Border crossings where going down in recant years until Trump called attention to them, then all of a sudden they began to increase, almost like as if that's what Trump wanted.
We need 2 things, a better immigration policy and for Trump and company to be gone.
9
What is happening at the border today, is different than anytime in the past. Instead of sneaking across, hoping to find work, but resigned to a life living in the shadows, these immigrants are turning themselves in and seeking asylum. The subject of people crossing our Southern border, to live and work here has been complex and intertwined, at least since the Mexican-American war. Whether we want these people here or not, they are not going to stop coming, as long as their home countries are impoverished, chaotic and overwhelmingly violent. What we have to ask ourselves, is what are we willing to do to help end these, unbearable conditions?
5
@Michael -. . . what are we will to do to help end these, unbearable conditions? It has to be up to the USA to change the conditions in the migrants countries of origin? Perhaps it should be up to the citizens of those countries to affect change and take their leaders to task instead of running to the USA for the better life.
1
Kirstjen Nielsen heartlessly testifies the border has gone from crisis to catastrophe - under her watch. The problem is not those crossing over since they are asking for asylum and that's guaranteed in the constitution. If you want to stop the crossings you triple the number of agents and judges that can deny asylum then deport legally. That message will soon spread. Currently, due to backlog, locking refugees up and feeding them, with their families, is safer than being home with the violence.
The solution is clear but to do that the administration would have to give up their primary rallying cry of build a wall to their base. A wall cannot stop a legal plea for asylum. A wall cannot stop those who manage a visa and overstay. A wall will take years to build and a huge amount of money that could supply agents and judges almost immediately.
Fixing the problem would remove Trump's prime target for getting re-elected. He has no intention of doing that.
1
Ms. Nielsen is right. There is a humanitarian crisis at the border.
She is wrong to think that Trump's monument will do anything useful. In fact, it will be an expensive, environmental disaster.
The humanitarian crisis has been created deliberate decisions and callous indifference spread over time and geography.
Near-term, the crisis reflects the failed-Trump administration slow walking processing of legitimate asylum claims.
Mid-term, the flood of asylum seekers is the product of American's appetite for drugs. They flee turf battles among those cashing in on US demand and our failed attempt to choke off supply with armed "aid" to corrupt local law enforcement. We should be addressing the "market-pull" for drugs in the USA. The violence these families are fleeing has its roots in the USA.
Long-term, the USA has been a hemispheric imperial power its entire history. In exchange for our corporations' access to mineral and agricultural wealth, our government has consistently undercut legitimate governments and propped up dictators. The meager infrastructure available to improve the lives of families in these countries is sparse because the capital for robust infrastructure is in bank accounts in New York and Zurich.
A real solution to the humanitarian crisis must be deep and wide to address these causes.
Ms. Nielsen is just a Trumpian thug in high heels, incapable of grasping the issues much less solving the complex problem. Nail polish doesn't hide the blood.
5
If anyone doesn't think the majority of the people coming to the US Border from the south aren't trying to "game the system" at this point; we are in far greater trouble than the Trump Administration imagines.
This is not an Emergency. It's a Crisis.
Time for everyone to get together and forget politics and fix this now.
Trump needs to move away from intransigent wall policy and the Democrats need to forget about their no borders, no wall, no ICE and whatever else they're spewing right now...
13
How does building a wall stop asylum seekers from showing up at legal ports of entry? There is no logic behind that proposition.
However, it would divert funds that would be more effectively spent funding our needs to manage the problems at our ports of entry.
4
I want to hear plans. From Democrats.
Processing people faster is not a solution. According to Gallup, 5 million people from Central America plan to come here this year.
Based on current numbers, more than 800,000 will arrive at the border this year.
Taking children from their parents is horrible. But according to multiple things I've read, a major "pull" is that people who've managed to cross the border with children are released into the US.
Are there any plans endorsed by Democrats?
16
First please cite your sources. I simply do not believe that your information comes from anywhere objective and unbiased. Gallup polls in Central America? How? How many of these five million imaginary respondents have internet access and computer literacy? The entire premise is ludicrous.
2
@Chuck Burton From Gallup 2/8/19 (link at bottom):
"Of those who want to leave their Latin American country permanently, 35% said they want to go to the United States.
"The Gallup analytics estimate is that 42 million want to come to the U.S.
"Forty-two million seekers of citizenship or asylum are watching to determine exactly when and how is the best time to make the move.
"A full 5 million who are planning to move in the next 12 months say they are moving to the U.S."
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/246563/million-border.aspx
8
@Chuck Burton Oh, they're more than literate - and they all have I phones! Guess they weren't so poor after all, and they also know how to play the system.
1
Politicians on both "sides" mostly play to an audience addicted to viewing reality as a collection of simplistic, morally certain bumperstickers.
For a bit of perspective consider how residents of New Mexico feel when there is much focus on the medical needs of those coming across their border, while their own access to medical care is extremely limited? From the Albuquerque Journal [Feb.16]: "As of last week, not a single primary care physician in one of the state’s largest group of medical providers was accepting new patients...."
It's not just a border issue. Continuing on, "The highest average new patient wait times of any city surveyed was 52.4 days in Boston, Mass. Yet Massachusetts has more physicians per patient population than any state in the union...."
The most salient point regarding health care is essentially ignored: what good is even universal insurance, if there is no functional access to care?
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have plans to deal with this fundamental problem. They merely argue over terms of paper rights, ignoring the real world of peoples' experience. It boils down to a case of supply and demand: more patients expecting services than there are available physicians. Unless we create more supply, increasing demand merely serves to exacerbate the problem. Incentives for people to choose medical careers, to become primary care doctors, to work in under-served areas, etc. need to be considered as much as the issue of medical insurance.
1
@Steve Fankuchen
Yes, the impact of illegal immigration on our health care infrastructure needs to be solved through legislation. Until then, what is the solution for the immediate "human catastrophe" at our southern border? Wait three years for a wall? Perhaps Nielsen should soften the recent strict "metering" of asylum seekers, streamline the process, so camps do not form, and droves do not storm across in dangerous areas. Her policies are making the immediate problem worse on our already overburden healthcare system. Don't clog the border facilitating disease, sickness, healthcare issues influencing starved families to make a desperate crossing, then overwhelm hospitals. Bad policy, creating more healthcare issues.
I don’t support building more walls — it takes too long, costs money, and I hate the environmental impact. I do support every other possible draconian measure — electronic verification, pausing all visa programs, exiting international asylum agreements, ending sanctuary cities, deporting anyone here illegally, not letting visa stayers re-enter, and ending birth right citizenship. Just think of the impact of doing several of these things immediately. Hey, let’s even report illegal aliens trying to buy guns!
Extending the wall seems like a failure of imagination— we need to do more, faster. I don’t envy Ms. Nielsen her job, and I’ll look with disfavor on personal attacks on her for political reasons.
77
@MyjobisinIndianow
End "birthright citizenship" you say?
Well, apart from the fact that you will need to amend the US Constitution (those pesky laws !), you can also bid farewell to all of Trumps kids (except the one he had with Marla.)
34
@MyjobisinIndianow NJ; interesting people furthest from the border are the hottest on immigration. Nielsen is a Trump Cult Member; sworn allegiance to Trump; not to the Constitution. She has no idea how many kids she locked up; does not care or just incompetent. Trump blows up the immigration issue to excite his base; it is working very well. Ray Sipe
30
@MyjobisinIndianow
Walls work. That's why there are already 650 miles along the border now.
3
There is a humanitarian crisis at the border, a crisis manufactured by Trump, a crisis that has already claimed the lives of children and adults, and separated children from their parents, with many of those children simply "lost" in the system. However, the real human toll of Trump's crisis is being played out in Mexico, due to trump's changes in the law, that forces asylum seekers to stay south of the border while their cases are reviewed. Yes, there is a humanitarian crisis at the border, but so far, Trump's proposed solutions are far, very far from being humane.
114
@NoTeaPlease - I have read that many of the "lost" children are not really lost but with relatives or sponsors who are already in the US but are undocumented. Therefore they do not wish the child to be "found" thus jeopardizing their own illegal status. And the "remain in Mexico" is probably not a ploy relegated just to the cruelty of Trump. The EU is in negotiations with several African states to do much the same. The EU set plans for “regional disembarkation platforms” in motion last summer to allow migrants found in European waters to have their asylum requests processed on African soil. The number of illegal African migrants rescued and brought to Italy for the 2017 year in Italy - 8.4% were awarded asylum status, the numbers for the Central American migrants are less than 10%. Yet all these people have to be processed - at great cost.
4
@NoTeaPlease The humanitarian crises is the result of ILLEGAL immigrants continuing to exploit their own children to gain entry ILLEGALLY.
7
@NoTeaPlease It was NOT manufactured by Trump. Everyone wants to blame Trump. He's easy to blame. I personally can't stand the guy, but right is right and wrong is wrong - or were you never taught that? The people "manufacturing" the crisis are the parents who deliberately choose to put their kids in harm's way, then break the law, then cry "my child is in a cage" when they are separated. ALL of which is within legal parameters. They'd rather focus on using the words "ripped away" and "torn" and "families destroyed" and "shredded lives" and how big a detention pen is than the fact the people who are being detained are breaking the law through an non-port of entry. They are hoping to overwhelm the system (which they are succeeding brilliantly at), and don't mind throwing a few sacrificial lambs into the fire - their own children. How dare they - then say they've been raped and abused and had their children torn from them. Playing victims, getting sympathy, so they can firmly plant their behinds here illegally. These are the truths. You don't want to hear or publish the truths.
6
The record breaking numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border this month is no joke. Democrats have created this crisis by encouraging phony asylum claims and if they don’t do something about it they proceed at their own peril. Burying their heads in the sand is not a strategy.
74
There are laws and international treaties that require us to consider all asylum claims. The problem is that there are not enough judges and personnel to handle these asylum-seekers. The assertion that Democrats have encouraged such behavior is pure speculation on your part.
67
@LAM - Those asylum laws and treaties also require those seeking asylum to do so in the next country that is safe, meaning Mexico. Not the next country with a generous safety net.
24
@Midwest Josh
wrong on the facts.
wrong on the law.
begs the issue.
dismissed.
24
Ms. Nielsen is probably in one of the most difficult positions of any member of the White House right now, so I wouldn't blame her for resigning one bit.
There are so many thousands of migrants trying to get here, what in God's name can be done?
34
@mainesummers
Yes, poor Ms. Nielsen, she is in such difficult position. Did I miss the story about her being forced to take the position she now holds? That she just needed any job to put food on the table for her hungry children? That she was fresh out of school & thought that government service would be so fulfilling? Guess I'm reading the wrong newspapers.
34
In reply to mainesummers NJ
“Build the wall”, is an appropriate answer to your final sentence.
8
@John Murray
"“Build the wall”, is an appropriate answer to your final sentence."...
When they are found dead in the desert, in an abandoned tractor trailer, or wash up on the beaches in San Diego (like they do in the Mediterranean), would that be "in God's name" also?
14
I agree it is a humanitarian crisis, and our lax asylum policies are to blame, not a lack of a border wall. If aliens are coming here with children and allowing themselves to be apprehended, a wall does nothing. They know they will be caught and then released, so this is really about policy--isn't it? This theater between Trump and my Democratic leaders needs to stop, and legislators need to change our asylum laws and birthright citizenship laws. I realize it is our "heritage." But it's 2019, not 1901. For the environmental benefit of our country, we have to do something.
95
@Bryan For the record, we have the space. THere are 90,000 vacant lots (give or take) in Detroit alone that could become homes. Make them four story apartments and that's home for more than 300,000 families. We have the space, just not the will.
33
@newyorkerva I would be fine with that. Maybe that would be a shot in the arm for Detroit? The problem is that we don't have the mechanism to force illegal aliens or legal migrants to go and live somewhere. They have been choosing California, and it has strained the social system and our natural resources to the breaking point. But if we can require them to go camp on vacant lots in Detroit, why not? (Not sure how Detroit would feel about paying to build homes for them, though...)
13
@newyorkerva WRONG. Plain and simple. How easy it is for New Yorkers to delegate landing spots for large groups of immigrants in arbitrary parts of the country (amazingly it's always far outside NYC!) Stop and think about your proposal for 1 second. Along with housing for the 300k families.. Your plan provisions for school capacity, public transportation, social services, police & fire, ESL support and JOBS for these new residents, right?
Has anyone bothered to ask the current residents of Detroit how they feel about increasing their current city size by like %50??
Honestly plz think about things a bit deeper before volunteering massive social upheaval on somebody else..
17
Democrats are giving Trump a gift here. Most people across the spectrum want illegal immigration stopped.
Democrats need to take charge of the problem, propose a comprehensive solution. Get in front of it. Stop reacting to Trump.
44
@Audaz, Exactly. Dems have been behind the eight ball on messaging and Trump is winning on this. Dems need to get the messaging to the 2 different issues: the humanitarian crisis caused by ) tolerance, and immigration reform. A wall will not fix the humanitarian crisis.
1
It is *not* a problem! Go look at the data! This entire news cycle, this entire ‘crisis’, is based on false premises, is fake. We had many fewer people coming across during most of Obama’s Administration; and 3X as many during Bush’s.
1
Lol as you probably already know most illegal immigration is happening due to expired visas, not people coming across the southern border. This is a fact.
And if people are asking for asylum it is not illegal immigrant.
7
The Democrats MUST get out in front of this news cycle.
Before Trump "picks up the ball" from Nielsen" and begins another; "Border Wall Tweet-Storm"
Since the campaign and for his entire presidency;
Trump has controlled the news cycle - mostly with LIES.
Yes, for the 1st two years of the Trump administration and the GOP led Legislature . . .
NOTHING was done to deal with this immigration issue.
Trump will go on the rampage - blaming "Socialist-Liberal-Democrats" as the source of all these immigration problems.
He will also add how all those pesky investigations against him is curtailing him from "solving all of the country's problems" -
The truth is - it just takes away some of his TV watching time!
Democrats must lay out some straight forward facts as to the true nature of what is going on with immigration -
AND
Add that their hands were tied for the past two years by Trump and his GOP minions.
This must be presented for what it actually -
A Complete GOP Failure.
7
The facts are in a graph in today’s NYT. They belie entirely the headlines.
I don’t understand why NYT editors and headline writers are feeding these lies and deceptions, when their own factual reporting undermines the Administration’s narrative.
Along with her boss, Nielsen is the cold face behind the family separation policy. A shame that she'll never have to stand before the International Court of Justice - but history will hold her accountable.
6
@Greg
History isn't that good at holding people accountable. Maybe you will write the book?
The humanitarian crisis is that there not enough personnel and judges to admit and process asylum seekers. The wall is a joke.
9
Refer back to Angela Merkel's comment to a refugee girl:
Chancellor tries to comfort Palestinian girl whose family faces the threat of deportation after telling her Germany ‘just can’t manage’ to take every refugee
"Politics is sometimes hard. You’re right in front of me now and you’re an extremely nice person. But you also know in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are thousands and thousands and if we were to say you can all come ... we just can’t manage it.”
Sympathetic but firm.
I wish there was leadership on either side of the aisle who would be able to do this.
7
Germany has a population of 80 million, and took in well over 1 million refugees.
We, with 4X the population, and 5X the GDP, can’t handle even 10% of what Germany has done.
We should be ashamed of our incredible selfishness. What has happened to our sense of altruism and noblesse oblige at the end of WWII?
1
How is the wall going to solve this humanitarian crisis? If funding is approved will the wall be built over the weekend?
Sounds like she’s taking cover for mismanagement. The trump administration knew these “caravans” were coming.
Might be time to find a leader who can solve problems. In the words of our current “leader”, “you’re fired”.
4
If 76,000 illegal border crossers are not an emergency then nothing is. These are people who do know that the U.S. has laws that prevent illegal crossers, yet they come anyway knowing that bringing a child is helpful to gain entry into the interior. Our country also has another crisis, people dying and sick due to being unable to afford medicine. It blows my mind that congress focuses on last year's issues but never discusses any immigration reform that would remove incentives for gaming the system. We cannot continue to take in more unskilled labor and economic refugees, nor is it fair to give what amounts to preference to those from Central America, by virtue of their proximity and ability to sneak across the border. Close the loopholes, and adopt the e-verify law through the land. Then have fair immigration.
62
Look at the historical data. The data does not support your, or the Administration’s, assertions.
7
@gmt Congress had a compromise bill on immigration last year; Trump blocked it. We can no longer believe anything coming from the Trump Administration; that 76,000 figure could be wildly inflated. These people are not "illegal" crossers; they are families seeking a better future. Trump has made it almost impossible to enter legally; choking down and blocking legal entry points.Trump has done nothing about medicine costs; except talk about it. Dems had hundreds of pages of a positive agenda at the opening of this session; GOP blocks what they try to pass.The unskilled labor coming into America fills the unwanted jobs "Americans" will not perform. Picking crops in heat for long hours; slaughterhouse; putting roofs on new homes in hundred degree heat. Once again; immigration reform was worked on last year; Trump blocked it. Ray Sipe
18
Who said illegal? They surrender at the border. That’s legal. It’s a humanitarian crisis, not a national security emergency.
11
Kirstjen “Kruelty” Nielsen had no background or experience to be Homeland Security Secretary when Trump appointed her. What you get when you appoint unqualified people to high level jobs is a den of liars, scrambling to cover for both their own incompetence and the leader’s idiocy.
15
Send
Them
Back......
No, thanks but no. We cannot support these people and they are unable to support themselves. We have Americans living in the streets! They come first!
23
@There
The reason a vast majority of Americans are on the street is because they have mental illness and/or have substance abuse issues. Employable? Not so much. Able bodied families and individuals that are coming across the border can fill the employment void.
5
@There The idea that Republicans would do anything for people living in the streets is laughable, aliens or not. What's stopping them now? First order of business, and last, and middle order: Enormous tax welfare for the rich.
11
@There
How unfortunate that @There is "Here," There -- and, surely, Everywhere that schadenfreude is 'song' to the smug and the heartless.
2
'humanitarian catastrophe'
Only the most blinkered Trump hating politically correct identity politics liberal could disagree with that assertion.
I'm sure many on this comment board will
A wall worked like a charm for Israel
8
@Luciano Uh, have you looked at a map? We have more wall than Israel right now. It's a small country. And don't forget eminent domain, how many private land owners are willing to hand over property for that wall without a court fight? The solution is more judges to deny asylum and deport quickly. That will take months, a wall will take decades. Basic math.
4
@Luciano
Yeah no terrorist attacks happen in Israel... hasn't worked for Israel will not work here. The only future that these walls hold is that they will eventually be torn down. I'm not a liberal and I'm not a scared little man who is blinded by his hate.
Too bad Nielsen didn’t report to someone that really cared. This will turn into an “I told you so” and she’ll follow like a little puppy.
6
Ms. Nielsen, how much time have you actually spent at the border
yourself documenting your experiences first hand?
Or do you just push numbers around on paper in your office to suit your boss Trump?
7
@Mike hey Mike how much time have you spent at the Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona borders. The numbers she reporting is the data collected by her department. Your comment shows that you would rather just rail against this President and his Cabinet than actually want to defend the sovereignty of the country.
3
@Mark
You are right, I won’t support Trump and the convicted felons he surrounds himself with.
The rest of his puppets are a disgrace as well.
I don’t trust any numbers coming from Washington in general these days. Corruption is
non-stop in Washington which erodes my trust what little I had left over the years.
Any update on Mexico paying for your “wall” yet like Trump promised?
Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, is CAUSING the humanitarian crisis. She is a hand maiden for The Con Don and his Interntaional Mafia 0.01% Robber Baron/Radical religion Good Old Boys' cabal.
Fortunatley some of our laws and most of our government and watchdog people are keeing track of their egregious behavior.
The law works too slowly. They separated children from parents and did not keep track of where they are. In light of the recent sting operation in Florida regarding one American sex-slave ring - frequented by some of the biggest stolen wealth Robber Barons - these young children are probably being forced into sex slavery or domestic servitude.
WE THE PEOPLE must DEMAND that Socially Conscious people with power in OUR political/legal/military/secret service complexes SET A NEW PRECEDENT, step up and remove The Con Don, Minister Pence and Traitor Mitch McConnell and put Speake Pelosi in charge.
This must not stand. Not in OUR America. Not now. Not ever again.
21
@njglea, so in other words...let's have a coup d'etat, right?
The Trump administration is very effectively changing the public discussion away from his racist hatred of Christian Hispanics, his Wall of Hate, and his impending judgement in Congress of the use of an Emergency Declaration to finance his wall. Timing is everything and humans are creatures of time. Trump is no exception being a true fauna creature. Now he has obviously directed surrogates to embellish his crisis theme.
That Trump Wall of Hate must not be built. Short term, it only serves to inspire foreign nationals to spontaneously migrate here to enter before the Wall is built. Long term it will make adversaries of our southern friends thereby endangering our nation unnecessarily. Trump's own rhetoric claiming a major crisis at the border is in fact, creating a crisis.
The public focus is now manipulated to belief of crisis. The Trump Wall of Hate should be the topic of discussion. Will we let Trump make enemies of our friends with his wall?
Violence everywhere in the world has always been cured with education. Promote education in the southern nations to stem the flow of immigrants escaping violence. Television promotes anger and violence everywhere. Teachers appeal to the better angels of people's souls.
I would even acquiesce to the idea of promoting education of our southern friends through the use of Voice of America and Radio Marti. Not to promote American political goals, but to educate southern listeners how to cope with violence there and remain safe.
5
Trump and his administrations always lies. It's impossible for me to believe anything they say.
7
What about the thousands entering the country each year using the J! cultural exchange visa for a six month stay who never leave? Isn't that an illegal border crossing? Many are from Russia and eastern european countries like Belarus. Why isn't that an issue when discussing illegal immigration?
8
That it has taken her this long for her to realize the humanitarian catastrophe is a catastrophe in itself. It could be happening on the Southern Lawn of the White House and she, and the rest of the White House, would be in utter denial.
Ms. Nielsen, just another of Trump's henchmen.
10
This is only what every Democrat was fighting for just a few years ago ,including Clintons Schumer Pelosi ,Obama ect. and had they taken action then this catastrophe could have been adverted .
10
Today’s NYT has a graph showing historical data under the last three Administrations. Find it. Ponder it. It shows a) border crossings’ primary impetus is the strength of the US economy, and b) the secondary impetus is strength of border policies and patrols.
Crossings during the Obama Administration were 3X less than under Bush. Yet, the narrative in your head is that Obama opened the floodgates? Read the data, and fix your false narrative.
Only very recently have crossings exceeded the highest during Obama’s Administration. Yet it is still Obama’s fault? And moreover now has reached ‘crisis’ levels? And is worthy of a National Emergency?
No. These are false memes and fake narratives, unsupported by data and facts.
And until you and others reject the fake narratives and false memes, the political ‘crisis’ will remain, diverting our attention from real problems.
1
I love you Catholics. It's all about Jesus. It's the truth.
The Government doesn't want Jesus in the country to avoid the trials surrounding him.
Remember the old saying; "Out of sight, out of mind"?
For many years the immigration exodus here was declining, until Trump began his anti-christian hate campaign against christian Hispanics. All his talk of his Wall of Hate is why the Hispanics are coming here. They want to get in before the Wall is built. It really is that simple.
4
The Democrats are as insane on this issue as Republicans are on climate change
Let me see
Abolish ICE
Oppose the creation of a wall (even though we already have a barrier/fence along many hundreds of miles)
Do not ask people their citizenship status on the census
In favour of sanctuary cities
If that's the position of the 2020 Democratic nominee for president he or she will lose. I guarantee that
37
Obama did 3X better than Bush. And now is doing better than Trump. See the data in today’s NYT.
Yet your perception is that Democrats are wrong wrong wrong on the issue?
Maybe the problem lies with echo chamber thinking. Break your bonds. Look at the data. Stop assuming any politician speaks truth, especially Trump.
5
@Luciano
Insane? To want to treat each other decently is Insane? To see a human being before labeling him an immigrant is Insane?
What is insane is to think that building a wall or massive incarceration of asylum seekers is the solution.
4
@arm19 While a grandiose wall is a stupid idea, it is not inhumane to consider the tradeoffs and tell people no. This decision can be come to with compassion, communicated with respect, and still be no.
Also the comment you are responding to did not mention mass incarceration in any way. Your argument loses credibility when you veer off course like that.
If she had any integrity, any self-respect, she would have resigned when she learned that the president wanted her to take actions that were illegal. That she stayed on speaks volumes about her character, which is clearly driven by her personal ambitions and not by a sense of duty to the country, its ideals, or our constitution.
Separate from Ms. Nielsen's role in the humanitarian crisis at the border, created by this deplorable administration and its henchmen/women, please, please, please stop lumping people who seek to avail themselves of the legal process of applying for asylum in the same category as people who "illegally" cross the border. I doubt the 76,000 in the DHS report all crossed the border "illegally". More likely, the vast majority crossed the border -- which is required to seek asylum under current US law -- and turned themselves in to border patrol. By lumping asylum seekers in with those who truly are crossing the border illegally (i.e., not pursuant to a legal process under current US law), you delegitimize them and their claims, which is exactly what these horrible people in the administration are banking on. I implore the media to do your homework. Research how many of these 76,000 souls crossed the border legally, to seek asylum, and how many crossed with no intention of turning themselves in to border patrol. Then report those numbers separately. Don't allow yourselves to be complicit in the misinformation game played by this administration.
16
@Oscar I wish I could recommend this comment until the end of time.
1
The cruel policies of the past two years have deliberately ignored the causes of the migrations in order to not have to show compassion for the oppressed, since that wouldn't get the GOP any more votes while the racist denigration of poor brown people kept the base happy.
Now the only moral choice is to feed and cloth and harbor those thousands in need and give them a safe place to sleep at night. That doesn't have to mean instant citizenship, but it can't mean looking through the slats of a a fence at people dying of disease and malnutrition.
4
Others of trump's appointees may be even more corrupt, but no one is mores corrupt-ed, sycophantic and 'weak-kneed' as Kirstjen Nielsen.
4
No way.
You don’t get to cause this issue and then ask someone else to clean it up for you.
14
And, Nielsen, where are you going to hide when your term is over? In a far away country?
Sounds to me that you are threatening the Secretary of Home Land Security, is that the case.
Others of trump's appointees may be even more corrupt, but none more corrupt-ed, sycophantic and 'weak-kneed' than Kirstjen Nielsen.
9
As with most issues these days, politicians here on both "sides" mostly play to an audience addicted to viewing reality as a collection of simplistic, morally certain bumperstickers.
For a bit of perspective I would note the following: how do you think the residents of New Mexico, for instance, feel when there is so much focus on the medical needs of non-Americans coming across their border, while their own access to medical care is extremely limited?
From the Albuquerque Journal [Feb.16]: "As of last week, not a single primary care physician in one of the state’s largest group of medical providers was accepting new patients...."
15
@Steve Fankuchen It's almost impossible in Delaware to get a PCP either. That's a result of a healthcare crisis and a system that has not made sense for a long time. It doesn't only have an impact on states at the southern border. And yet the Republicans still have no legitimate plan for addressing healthcare. Stop blaming everything that's wrong with our country on immigrants.
5
MBL, thanks for engaging on this issue. You are absolutely right that healthcare it is not just a border issue. From the same article I quoted in my original comment: "The highest average new patient wait times of any city surveyed was 52.4 days in Boston, Mass. Yet Massachusetts has more physicians per patient population than any state in the union...."
The most salient point regarding health care in America is essentially ignored by both Republicans and Democrats: what good is insurance, even universal insurance, if there is no functional access to care?
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have plans to deal with this fundamental problem. They merely argue over terms of "paper rights", entirely ignoring the real world of real peoples' experiences. In a sense it boils down to a simple case of supply and demand: more patients requiring (and/or expecting) services than there are available physicians. Unless we address ways to create more supply, increasing demand merely serves to exacerbate the problem. Incentives for people to choose medical careers, incentives to become primary care doctors over specialists, incentives for doctors to work in under-served areas, and other ideas need to be considered and debated as much if not more than the issue of the breath and source of medical insurance.
1
@MBL You jumped the shark with your last sentence. You're correct that health care needs substantial reform. The poster is also correct in that illegal immigrants have a material adverse impact on our health care system. I think it's much too bold to claim they are "blaming everything that is wrong with our country on immigrants."
It behooves as all to address arguments and issues accurately and in good faith. Health care is a problem, illegal immigration is a problem, and they do have, to some extent, some overlap. The problems with health care span our entire nation and are not solely or even mostly the fault of illegal immigrants.
1
Um, assuming there is a humanitarian catastrophe at the border, how exactly is a wall going to fix that, unless the wall is built in such a way that it contains housing and medical facilities ... A wall is a fix to a humanitarian catastrophe the same way the invasion of Iraq was a fix for the attacks of 9/11.
14
Nielsen is just disregarding the reality. Too many people are legally requesting entry for apparently good reasons that must be accommodated. We have not planned and funded for this contingency.
5
For months, I've been reading articles in the NYTimes that state there is no emergency; it's just that more families than ever before are showing up at the southern border! I have long wondered about the logic of those pieces, often backed up with graphs. An illegal entrant is an illegal entrant, regardless of age, sex or background. We have got to change the laws that enable illegal entrants to establish a physical presence in the country. Those laws are not helpful or appropriate for the current situation, and are plainly being exploited by the thousands entering our country every day, many of whom never leave. We taxpayers are footing the bill for manipulation of our current laws by record numbers of illegal entrants, and a striking failure on the part of Congress to enact urgently needed corrective legislation.
21
If it is true that there is a huge increase in asylum seekers at the southern border, then a wall - which will take years to build - will not solve that problem. So what is her answer - a wall? Hard to see who that would solve the current problem - except HER problem with her current boss. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, the misery continues.
5
President Trump complimenting Nielsen’s work? That may be flattering to her, but it’s a red flag to me.
7
Did Secretary Nielsen mention that the 'humanitarian crisis' the Southern border was created by President Trump's policies and her unskilled and inartful implementation of those policies? The humanitarian crisis, it seems to me, resides in the White House and Homeland Security which appear devoid of humanity at virtually every level.
11
Even as we read, the sale of guns to Mexico and Central America from the USA continues. Each gun sold generates a $5-10 donation to the NRA, a gun manufacturers’ lobby. Thus do we export gun violence and increase the misery driving migrant families to the border, even as we disable ourselves from addressing a root cause of migration and our own gun violence problems.
8
Ms. Nielsen' logic escapes me. How would a border wall stop a humanitarian crisis? Wall or no wall, the causes of the suffering will persist. A wall does nothing for the root of the problem.
9
A humanitarian crisis demands a humanitarian response. How does a wall fit that definition?
Humanitarian response and aid begins with water, food, safety, diapers, medical care and the processing of asylum seekers. And maybe even a few well-delivered paper towels. Focus on the humanity of those in desperate straits.
A wall is a different issue. It delivers no aid to the suffering. Can we please disentangle that conversation?
138
@Patricia Vanderpol - Humatarian response and aid, to quote Margaret Thatcher, The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." The Central American migrants expect to be provided for, which will encourage even more to come. They certainly aren't paying for anything other than fees for smugglers.
4
Just implement e-verify, Republicans.
Make it mandatory.
Or would that cut into your Greed Over People slave labor profits too much ?
Hello....Republicans ?
121
@Socrates
Hah, won't someone must tell Eric and Don Jr.
Today's Washington Post article.
The president’s sons entrusted their private hunting retreat to a caretaker. He was working in the country illegally.
7
Ms. Nielsen has the difficult task of stating what we all know:
Our country cannot possibly accomodate every person that wants to come and live here.
The only thing we need to do now is figure out how to get the message across to the thousands already on buses on their way up.
50
@mainesummers America is a large country with an enormous amount of empty space. We can not accommodate people who want to come here because we choose not to. The people who want to come here also should choose to do all that they can to contribute here. Follow a rule of law, learn a modicum of the language.
We don't want to absorb the effects of so many people coming here, such as an escalation in the cost of building materials to house them in farther flung places with space; material to build roads to those places and sanitation facilities to make their living and the businesses that they will be build be humane.
It's a choice to deny them entry to the U.S. Nothing more, nothing less.
6
Maybe we can't in a thousand years, but we certainly can now.
6
@mainesummers While that is true from a quantity perspective, it is not what this administration is pursuing. Trump wants to let foreigners in but just those from places like Norway. In other words, just white people.
5
But we have a family separation policy for US citizens. If I am arrested and my kid is in the car seat, are they going to put him in the jail cell with me? If I am determined or even suspected to be unfit as a parent, I can lose custody of my children. Why would foreigners who break or laws be treated any differently? Or be treated better than US citizens?
Why is there little public uproar regarding the separation of US citizen families?
38
@Skip Conrad, quite the insidiously malicious argument there, I'll give you credit. The big difference is that if you commit a crime, and your children are separated from you, chances are the'll stay with their mom, or other relatives. They are not forcible snatched away from both parents, and sent to detention centers, to be caged like criminals themselves. Then, even in jail, you know where your children are. Those migrant children were simply sent away, without any record of their destination, or institution taking responsibility. Please, don't play games with this issue.
24
@Skip Conrad- you're 99.99% guaranteed that if you're arrested or otherwise separated from your children and the authorities take custody of them until you can take them back to your own custody, that they will not LOSE your children w/o a trace then hem & haw as they kick the dirt saying well your child was here a while ago. Not sure where they are now, sorry not sorry wink-wink.
18
@Skip Conrad
There is a refugee crisis worldwide. Families are fleeing violence, war, and famine. Nations with far fewer resources to do so, operate refugee camps until such time as something can be done with those families.
We have no policy to deal with the disaster that is in Central America. Meanwhile, we spend trillions trying to nation build in Afghanistan. Why should we be immune to this problem and why would you want the United States to see refugees as criminals? We can do better.
11
Given the Trump administration’s propensity for lying, any reported “surge” that supports Trump’s wall must be scrutinized carefully. The timing is a little too convenient. Not that a wall is a real solution to a humanitarian crisis, of course.
90
@Rich
The New York Times did scrutinise carefully: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/us/border-crossing-increase.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
6
@Rich
Christian and Catholic relief organizations at the border say they are being overwhelmed and have never seen numbers like this (read the article from yesterday’s New York Times). I suppose they’re lying too, right?
11
Nielsen is the blindly obedient foot soldier we expect. Her assertion is that migrants are “exploiting” immigration laws, forcing this administration to build a wall. What kind of an insane management approach is building a wall when it’s the laws that are not working (as per Nielsen)?
The Republicans admit again that they are incompetent leaders: they had two years of full control to “fix” the laws yet they sat on their hands, complained, whined and demanded a wall. Absurd.
173
@Angelica
as indigenous peoples of America tried to stop the wagon trains from venturing into their lands expect the same result of the trump's administration attempt to do the same with current wagon trains.
6
@Angelica
Kirstjen Nielsen has no kids to miss. She is not nor has she ever been a mother.
She was a top aid to the white supremacist nationalist xenophobic racist prejudiced misogynist patriarchal bigot John Kelly.
11
@Angelica
By Neilsen's logic, it would seem that anyone who "exploits the law" should trigger prompt wall construction.
I agree!
When can we build one around Donald ?
11
This is a mass migration just like the ones that built our nation. We are now faced with a question; will we embrace the same kind of diversity that made our nation great, or will we allow a racist to continue his personal vendetta against others not like himself? When will my Democratic leaders muster the courage to say what this is; a racist man intent on leading through the cultivation of hatred? Any more of the Democrats cowardice towards Trump will be the end of them politically. As it is now they are quite irrelevant in the face of obvious White House messaging meant to manipulate the mass media. You're losing the fight Democrats.
Today is a different day in which a different Trump protege hammers home the same hate filled panic inducing message as the Democrats are absent from the debate. Trump continually calls you weak. He's right.
10
@Billy
Both points are incorrect. Undocumented aliens pay sales taxes and often pay income taxes by virtue of having an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (an IRS-approved alternative to an SSN). They are not eligible for federal benefits.
6
@Billy: On the contrary: they pay taxes (withheld from their wages), but cannot apply for welfare or other assistance because of their lack of the necessary documentation.
Studies have shown over and over again that immigrants, including undocumented ones, make a net positive contribution to the economy.
But perhaps you distrust the findings of academic research.
6
@Ellen Valle
This is inaccurate. The Congressional Budget Office's numbers indicate illegal immigrants are a fiscal net drain at the state and municipal level. They may be, at best, a breakeven at the federal level. This is also completely intuitive - these are low skill, low wage people with large families. They are undoubtedly going to require the social services we provide as part of our society while being unable to pay in at an even rate.
There could be valid arguments about a positive economic impact overall (again federal level), but I suspect those numbers are largely driven by simple population growth, which is a very short-sighted way to pursue economic strength.
It is imperative that people think about this plainly. Illegal immigrants are a fiscal strain on cities and states. That shouldn't necessarily dictate policy but it should be considered. Please do not just blindly shout that they have a positive impact on all levels. That is wrong.
1
Prompted by operatives working for one of the tentacles of Koch Broz INC, tens of thousands of Guatemalans have left their homes to seek a better life in America. And it's all in order to declare a border crisis.
The Koch Broz need to be brought to justice for all the havoc the have wrought on this nation.
25
Kirstjen Nielsen is nothing more than a mouthpiece for Trump. She will say or sell anything Trump demands regardless if it is true or not.
Our immigration system is the humanitarian catastrophe not the border.
The only immigration laws that need to change are those surrounding punishment for Americans and American companies that hire illegals and are never punished. Instead, we just punish the "brown people" and not the people who profited from illegal immigration.
No amnesty either for the Americans and American people who break immigration laws.
67
She is certainly a candidate for indictment by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity. Being "offended" by those who called her out for family separations while in fact they were going on is the height of insolence.
26
@Effelbee Should our domestic justice system legislators be hauled off to the "International Court of Justice" also? We separate "families" every day when ordinary Americans are arrested and detained. Or would you rather the kids go to jail also?
5
@TMart: I'm getting really tired of that false argument. Those children have families to stay with. If the father is incarcerated, the children will presumably stay with their mother or some other family member, in their own home, their own school and a familiar environment. They won't be left on their own, separated by great distance, in inhumane conditions and with no contact with any familiar person. Do you really think that's a good way to treat young children?
7
@TMart seeking asylum is not a crime.
4
It would be nice if the NYT would be responsible enough to report all of the statistics that Nielsen reported regarding the influx of illegal border crossings and the havoc that it is causing to border security and the Country! As usual, the NYT chooses to report PART of the facts and then shift to other subjects that support their own liberal agenda. But I guess that is just asking too much.
The problem with illegal immigration is NOT a new problem. This has been going on for several decades, and not one president has kept their promise to resolve the issue. Then when the current President makes the attempt to keep his promise to protect our border there is an uproar from the left that he is "manufacturing" a border crisis. Why don't the "news" agencies go down to the border and report the facts that Border Patrol has been trying to bring to the attention of the politicians? And I don't mean to find a secure bordered area and show that there is really not a problem like Jim Acosta did. What an embarrassment that was when it backfired on him and proved that border walls actually DO WORK! But I guess it is not in the best interest of the MSM, so they don't want to bother.
It is bothersome to me and many others that our employees (Congress) who were hired to represent the interests of the American people can dictate what they do, how they are paid, when they will work and if they will actually do the job they were hired to do! All we get for our money is nothing!
39
Donald Trump isn’t “resolving” anything. He simply demagogues a one-word “solution” to an extremely complex problem and his low-information, easily-herded base believes and regurgitates it. Past presidents haven’t solved it, but Donald Trump is worse than useless. Unlike former presidents, Donald Trump is malevolent, which will only make the problem worse in the short and long terms.
21
@Robert Brannon "This has been going on for several decades". Doesn't that prove that it's not a crisis?
During Obama's presidency the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill. Passed it by a large, bipartisan majority. The then Republican controlled House didn't even vote on it. Let me say that again: the Republican House didn't even vote on it! If they didn't like it why didn't they vote it down, explaining their objections?
Then maybe they could have worked with the Senate on a compromise. Worth a shot I would think. But no, the craven Republican cowards didn't want to go on record with a vote. Instead they repealed Obamacare for the hundredth time.
But I have a funny feeling that you supported them. You make these noises about being unhappy with the whole Congress for not doing what's needed, but here's a case where it was the Republican House members who clearly deserved the blame. Did you denounce them?
41
Did you see yesterday’s article?
3