Nielsen left this administration. That suggests she has more compassion and integrity that the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump, even if her integrity is depressingly small.
If It is appropriate to shun this awful person, and it is, then is doubly appropriate to shun the rest of the Republicans in America who voted for this cruelty and stupidity and who continue to support this President. They put these children in cages as surely as Nielsen did.
12
Chick Fil A, the Koch corporations and a boat load of similarly oriented firms, Liberty University and its ilk, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.... I could go on, but there are plenty of places for her to hide her shame among the shameless.
26
I agree that the policies were evil and that Kirstjen Nielsen bears responsibility. But isn't John Kelly just as bad? Why aren't people calling for him to be pilloried? He was Director of Homeland Security before Nielsen, and was just as hardline on immigration as Trump. Furthermore, Nielsen was Kelly's protege.
17
Do I have this right? There are horrible things going on within Homeland Security, but we should focus on demonizing the person who has left?
6
Kristen Nielsen is just another of a long list of immoral and cowardly collaborators in the advance of incipient Fascism in
America. Let’s drop the phrase “Trump populism” and call it for
what it clearly is Trump Fascism.
It can’t happen here? Open your eyes. It is happening here.
Mike
28
Ms. Nielsen will probably scuttle off to a position at a Koch funded think tank. Any public education institutions that considers offering Nielsen and any other Trump apoointees deserve public shaming.
10
What is this opinion writer objecting to?
Is it the policy of deterrence at the border? Because, if so, then does she know that according to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Flores v Lynch, Obama used a policy of deterence at the border that this court made him stop.
Is it Separation of families? Because this court approved of it, Bill Clinton established it and the ACLU litigated for it.
I inquire because of this:
"Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) released a previously undisclosed memo Thursday from high-level officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department in 2017 that outlined policy options to deal with illegal immigration at the border. The second item on the list is a policy to “separate family units.” The memo also notes that an upshot of such policies will be the “substantial deterrent effect.”
Even if the upshot of a policy to separate family units happens to have a substantial deterence effect, it still had to be done because of the law, unless a president decided that he could avoid the whole thing by giving up for their amnesty hearings, which 989% have not done in the past. Obama allowed 700,000 people in that way after the court stopped his deternce policy and insisted on "family separations" which is a misnomer: the policy is that minors must be separated, not from their families, but from adult detention facilities. Thus did Trump in response to an outcry, build family housing units which rendered moot the separation policy.
8
Why should Spicer, Lewandowski and McMaster get a pass while the lone woman in that group is to be excoriated and shunned for life? Everybody who has been in the Trump Administration is equally guilty of complicity and equally worthy of blame and shame. As to the proposed ban, don't bet on it. She will land in a cushy position with a defense contractor, given her role as (protege? paramour?) of John Kelly. I don't worry for her, or think she alone should pay a price, and in any event this proposal is not the way to defeat Trump and his initiatives.
10
“We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?
To which Ambassador Albright responded,
I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”
Madeleine Albright was awarded a Medal of Freedom. Go figure.
9
" She did this evil work with either blithe incompetence or malicious sloppiness, failing to create a system to properly track kids who were ripped from their families. "
Oh, and how does the writer know this?
Is this incompetence "blithe"? How do you know that? Do you know what the job entailed? Have you read the caselaw and what was required to be done in what timeframe? The intitial settlement gave the agencies 72 hours to place alien migrant minors outside adult detention facilities and into appropriate child protective ones--even if they were not available, not yet built, or over-crowded. That was in 1997. Bill Clinton agreed to that Settlement. See Flores v Reno.
8
Saint Barack killed between 400 and 800 civilians with drone strikes during his presidency, many of them children, and then lied about it. Surely child killers belong on any credible blacklist.
10
Someone, somewhere in the right wing universe where alternate truths abound, will gladly bring her on board and pay her lots of money.
I have never read or heard anything about whether or not she is a parent. I would have to think not. I would have to, at the very least, hope she isn't.
5
Kirstjen Nielsen should be held accountable just like Nazi war criminals. They like Nielsen were all Just Following Orders. It should not be a Get Out Of Jail card for Nielsen anymore than for other war criminals.
7
So you are equating holding illegal immigrants in humane conditions to the gassing of millions of Jews by Nazis. this is why you progressives can't be taken seriously.
12
How cynical and snarky. There but for the grace of God...
Only fate has kept you from the of horror that many in our world are forced to endure.
Imagine that you and your family are under constant threat of torture and death. Imagine your streets infested with vicious thugs who would rape your wife or daughter at will. Imagine that, try as you may, you cannot make a normal and prosperous life for you and your loved ones. Imagine hunger and privation.....
These are our sisters and brothers, who need our understanding and our help. The Mother of Exiles is weeping.
7
Unfortunately there are plenty of Republican governors who will fall all over themselves to appoint Nielsen and people like her to the presidency or other positions at state universities. It just happened in El Paso with Trump's former Secretary of the Air Force. Boycotting the universities themselves hurts the students. Should they all be expected to transfer?
2
Has there ever been more reason for impeachment proceedings that an unchecked abuse of power? These words from the column should open up more than investigation: "The president is filling positions with acting officials, circumventing Senate confirmation. Some senior members of the administration, like Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, are flatly refusing to cooperate with congressional oversight. CNN reported that Trump told border agents to ignore judges when taking steps to keep migrants out. We should not assume that government institutions will restrain the president before he visits anguish and terror on thousands more of the world’s most vulnerable children." The President is at war with Congress and the Courts. It is clear that Wilbur Ross lied to Congress. This insolence should not stand.
8
It’s like the decline of the Roman empire, autocrats circumventing the senate (or in our case the congress). Whoever puts an end to the Trump autocracy (hopefully 75 million or more voters in 2020) is my hero.
9
I'll cancel my Macy's card long before I cancel Miss Nielson.
7
Harvard clarified its position of subservience to the halls of power by not just making Fellows of Spicer and the if-possible-more-repulsive Lewandowski, but by uninviting Chelsea Manning at the behest of the CIA.
Asked by Manning's reps why then Spicer and Lewandowski were not also too soiled to be Fellows, they were told that those worthies "brought something to the table".
Since all they personally brought to the table was how to kowtow to a powerful man in return for some of his power, and Manning brought to the table how a 22-year-old could sacrifice his status and perhaps freedom to reveal war crimes and torture, it's pretty plain that what Harvard worships is power, and power alone.
Since Nielsen was close to it and remains connected to it, she will be welcome there, and in many other places.
If your quaint notions of moral statements had half a prayer, then all the guys that sold the Iraq War with their punditry would no longer be in journalism. Instead, one of them, Fred Hiatt, is your boss, after publishing 27 op-eds in favour of the war, touting the menace of WMDs, to only 2 against. Jeffrey Goldberg and David Frum helped sell it even more, and failed upward to now be running The Atlantic, a major part of the supposedly "liberal coastal elite left" media universe.
So stop kidding yourself.
4
I can't believe how hysterical and vicious you are about simple efforts to control immigration on the souther border
First of all children were NOT KEPT IN CAGES
When you have an excessive number of children crossing our border (we really should deport those that are unaccompanied immediately.)officials had to find a place to pu them. All they had were metal pieces which were supplied by the government years ago.
All they could do was put up the metal pieces they actually had to form cubicles for children. Now if you want something different then I suggest you help pay for it. Or make a donation to purchase the material you want.
But don't condemn the officers for using what they had on hand.
I am sick and tired of people like you , the left wing elite, of complaining about government facilities. The government has to use what it has on hand. Try to understand that concept.
As for the Ms Nielsen - i hope she gets a soft landing and a good job. She was never really cut out to run the agency and was totally unable to come up with ideas to deal with the migrant invasion. She lacked the immigration to come up with good ideas on stopping them from entering the US.
9
There are always those defending the inhumane and murderous ideas of the oppressors. It was so in 1933 and you prove it is so today.
10
Thank God for people like Ms. Nielsen! The illegal immigrants using their own children as emotional pawns are solely responsible for any separation from them. If you take your poor, innocent children along in the commission of a felony and then expect sad-sack pleas to insulate you from the consequences of your crimes, you are the one who should be ‘cancelled.” It’s despicable. Would that Michelle Goldberg cared a wit about the United States and it’s citizens and LEGAL immigrants. That would be the day.
13
Take a good hard look at Kirstjen Nielsen in the accompanying photo, she looks like a lost soul.
Everything and everyone Trumps touches dies. SAD
7
Yes Kirstjen Nielsen was a problem, but the real problem lies with the man she used to work for and that is the person we need to get rid of.
6
The wheels of Justice do turn slowly...but truly We The People Have The Power! Why did the Special Olympics Funding get restored? Why doesn't Ivanka have a fashion line any longer? Why is Steve Bannon over seas? Why is most of Trump's support on only one network....Fox etc. ? Public Outrage works. The Resistance isn't weakening. Public Outrage put the Democrats in charge of the House..and they are doing what we cannot do for ourselves and what we elected them to do. I would not get very far asking for Trump's Tax returns...but here in Mass. our Democratic Congressman Richard Neal has done it.He has already gone farther than I could as an individual. Good things take time.Rome wasn't built in a day..the Sistine Chapel wasn't painted overnight. So as they said in the Wizard Of Oz......Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain...We'll Get Him and His Little Dogs Too.....All In Due Time My Pretties...All In Due Time !!!
5
This is America. Everything will be forgotten by next week. This is America. She will be taken care of by the republican cooperate interest. She'll make a million bucks a year somewhere. This is America. Land of the mentally demented. This is America. If there is a god, god help America.
3
She will forever wear the Scarlet "T" on her forehead as will others who did Trump's bidding.
4
Terrorizing children? Isn’t that what their parents did when they handed them over to unknown mules for illegal entry to the US?
12
As horrific and cruel as Nielsen has been, people of her non-existent morality are the only ones Trump will hire, and eventually fire.
3
Perhaps Ms. Nielsen should be required to wear a scarlet "T"
1
"How much of a risk will depend on decent Trump-hating Americans." Do decent people hate?
"She put babies in cages, traumatized children for life, and then ... lied ... about what she had done." I'm sure she did not actually place 1 baby in a cage".
"She did this evil ... with blithe incompetence or malicious sloppiness,"(no, she RAN , or tried to run, a HUGE government agency) " failing to create a system to properly track kids..." Why didn't YOU create that database FOR her, Ms Goldberg? And while you were at it, train everyone at all of our immigration centers to use it. I'm sure they were all doing crossword puzzles all day anyway.
I find the policy reprehensible, but come on now! I doubt she even considered that we wouldn't keep track of where the children had been sent.
3
This woman puts the lie to the feminist illusion that the world would be a better place if more women were in charge. No, humans are equal opportunity sinners. Anyone who rationalizes destroying children's lives only because their parents are desperate enough to flee their native homes should be shunned forever.
2
Ms. Nielsen will probably scuttle off to a position at a Koch funded think tank. Any public education institutions that consider offering Nielsen and any other former Teump appointee ought to be publicly shamed.
My favorite vignette from her tenure was the galling visit to a Mexican restaurant, of all places, from which she was chased. So proud of our country on that day.
3
Think MIchelle.
There are 327 million people in the US. If only one in a thousand is a violent crazy, that is 327,000 of them.
I know you explicitly don't intend for yelling at restaurants, and certainly not violence. But think what the words "pariah" , "evil work", "child torturer", "babies in cages" and "cancel Kirstjen" and calls for a lifetime ban from polite society, could spark in a deranged set of ears.
The NY Times, and others have rightly called for a return to civility, for a stand down from the politics of personal destruction, from naming your political opponent as the devil incarnate.
Liberals rightly pointed out the complicity of a poster with Gabby Gifford's picture in a gunsight with the lunatic who took it literally. We have to practice what we preach.
8
I was copacetic with hounding Nielsen in public after what she did.
Then I remembered: "Oh, yeah, I was in Vietnam," where we all did some pretty horrific things. And you, fellow citizen, paid us and issued medals for doing your bidding.
So I'm kind of between a rock and an embarrassing place. Do you belong in my category?
2
How about adding torturers to your list of pariahs, including the one currently running the CIA?
4
We don't "cancel" human beings, however, despicable their morals and actions. Because the word "cancel" has no single accepted meaning when applied to people, extreme readings are possible, as the Times should be aware. I clicked on this op-ed to see how close it actually came to calling for Kirstjen Nielsen's death. The Times has responded to a new low in US political history with a new low of its own.
9
Harvard should be ashamed to have given fellowships to Lewandowski and Spicer.
4
I deeply hope Neilsen is a social pariah and is never able to enjoy a peaceful meal in public again. She seems to have no understanding of the horribleness of her actions, the trauma she inflicted just for fun on brown and black persons.
This "cancel" concept reminds me of when Stalin "cancelled" his political enemies and erased them from photographs. This is too much. If you don't like her don't hire her but don't try to destroy her life...unless you are ready for when the other side starts "cancelling" your favorite politicians for promoting policies that they don't like. I am sure pro-life activists would be willing to start the ball rolling.
8
I have never met Kirsjten Nielsen but I doubt she will be out busking on a sidewalk for her supper. She will probably lay low for a while then reemerge with a fat think-tank gig. The public has a short memory. Her resignation probably put a sly grin on Michael Cohen's face as he knew too well the slime of being a member of the Trimp team. Perhaps an apology for her evil ways will eventually emerge. Boycotting and censorship is an ill-advised course. Truth and honesty will be better.
1
The one sad story untold in this shameful episode is of the child and children who will never again see their parents and family and will be introduced and subjected to a life of horrors at the hands of ill-betted, demented people deeming those children useful for their gain.
2
Michelle Goldberg claims Kirstjen Nielsen "traumatized children" for life by putting them in "cages." However, the "cages" are holding areas e closed by wire mesh in Border Patrol processing stations. They were built by the Obama administration. Children apprehended at the border under Nielsen were processed the same way they were during the Obama administration. Most children spend less than 24 course at the processing centers.
7
No one Should scream at Nielson at a restaurant, I agree, but this Stain shall stay with her all her living days. She will have to answer the Question asked to Sen. Joe McCarthy some 60 plus years ago "Have you no sense of decency?"
9
Nielsen is a convenient punching bag because of the inhumane policies she helped carry out with nary a concern, but Democrats need to get at the root: Trump and his Republican enablers, who are both incompetent and cruel.
The president’s base will blithely follow along as Trump continues to push the boundaries of the rule of law. We know what’s coming in 2020 and it should send shivers through Americans: Trump losing at the polls and electoral college, but ranting about a “rigged election” with millions of fraudulent votes.
We don’t want a Putin or a Maduro or even a Netanyahu — we want a president, Democrat or Republican, who is not corrupt.
8
One should never be “dispirited” or “depressed” by efforts to rein in child snatching, legal or otherwise.
1
"She did this evil work with either blithe incompetence or malicious sloppiness,"
People with a record of high achievement don't suddenly become either incompetent or sloppy. They are very ambitious and what they occasionally do is mis-read the threat of an audacious move. She thought she could work for Trump and not get covered in too much slime. Then when she slipped deeper into the moral morass that is the Trump administration she tried to double talk her way around her actions. No one bought it.
She is just another driven, overly ambitious American elite with flexible morals who thought she was smart enough to use a cabinet position with Trump as a resume builder. Instead she found herself further out on a moral limb that eventually broker under her. She deserves no pity, compassion or second chances as this administration, under the most favorable view, will go down in history as a watershed in the dissolution of America as a decent country, let alone a great power.
11
Karma will take care of her.
7
Regardless of your opinion on Kirstjen Nielsen's conduct, I stand by my belief that we should 'cancel' our use of the word 'cancel' when it comes to any kind of argument or conversation in society. It inherently stops the dialogue around someone's actions, the consequences of their behavior, lessons that could be learned, and also likely nuances that would be missed should a conversation or person simply be 'cancelled'.
6
When policy such as family separation happened in other far a way land the United States Government and the American people become the conscious of the world, we condemn, we offer aids, and above all else we offer safe harbor.
But when we join the league of ordinary nation, and engaged in barbarism such as the family separation policy by the Trump administration, which was carried out the Secretary Nialsen; we should collective be condemn and all of us should carried the shame visited on our country by the policy
5
This article is spot on. To those commenters who talk about decency, does not decency demand that people such as Nielsen not be accepted in what used to be called 'polite society'? To those of you who believe that manners still matter, monsters do not understand manners except in a Disney movie. What Nielsen oversaw was government-sponsored abuse and worse. Nobody, nobody should be interested in coming in contact with her much less hiring her. Nothing she has to offer has any value for us.
16
As bad as Nielsen was. what follows will be worse.
4
@Bill For the undocumented? Good!
1
@Bill Hopefully future would-be caravan participants will read your post very carefully and plan their expeditions accordingly.
Personally, I will boycott any and every company that associates itself with Nielsen. Others were bad, but to tear children from their parents' arms, lock them in cages, and then say it will take up to two years to reunite them with their families is a special kind of evil. She should be banished - perhaps back to Denmark.
18
The tone and substance of this column reminds me that I have heard and seen the word "hate" used more since the day Trump was elected than in all the time before. And always -- always -- by people on the left. You might say that the right acts out of hate, the left calls them out by naming it. Even so, how many journalists, activists, and everyday Democrats will deny that they actually feel hate for Trump? And for his supporters? And feel quite righteous about it? It reminds me of a sign in windows and doors in my community: "Hate Has No Home Here." I want to knock and ask, "Then why is it on your sign?"
8
Thank you for this column. This is the first sane thing that I have read since it was announced that thousands more children than reported were separated from their parents, with no system in place for reunification or even identification/tracking (like the corner dry cleaner does with a $5 dress). Still trying to wrap my head around that. It's like Vice President Cheney leading us to war based on falsehoods and then profiting from it. Let's put an end to that.
10
Sadly, an even worse apparatchik and even more servile Trump toady will probably take her place. When dictators, including wannabes, dump an out-of-favor crony, the replacement is usually worse.
9
Taking children away from their parents without court order, how is that not kidnapping?
Having said that, what is the number of asylum seekers per MONTH we are seeing at our southern border? How can that not overwhelm our immigration system even if we have the best of intention? If people are coming in the hundred of thousands every month to ask for asylum which by international law, we are obliged to process, during which we are obliged to let them in. Hundreds of thousands every month, how is that not a violation of our sovereignty?
Trump is cruel in words and deeds, but we do have a problem of having too many asylum claims which we do not have practical ways to discern. I wish the Democrats will stop finger pointing and come up with practical ways to deal with these asylum seekers beside just saying, "Let them in."
If we let in anybody who knocks on our door, what is the point of having the door? What is the point of having passport, visa, check points, or citizenship?
The problem of mass movement of people illegally is complex, huge, and very difficult. Let's not let Trump's cruelty makes it look like it's simple and easily solved, by just letting them in.
4
one thing in her favor - her intense dislike of stephen miller. since she was implementing his ideas, mainly, it is a rather useless plus.
1
I am surprised that she is not defending herself with the time honored "I was just following orders." excuse.
4
This column didn't have to be written. As Maggie Haberman reported, Ms. Neilsen knew her life wouldn't be peaches and cream once she left. This is what Trump is doing to us. What happens to Nielsen now isn't important. What is important are the Republican senators enabling a man who is destroying the country, just because they're afraid of losing their precious jobs. Good riddance to Kirsjten Nielsen. You know her successor will be even worse. Getting revenge on her won't help the children who will be terrorized by being separated from their parents. There's too much work to do to spend our time on revenge- now.
6
Ms. Goldman,
I very much disagree with you. Nielson was utterly competent in her exercise of maliciousness. She was not at all sloppy.
2
Shunning works very well and is quite effective in the Amish communities.
8
‘Cancel Michelle Goldberg’—No, wait. That would be inconsistent with the civil discourse I value. I have lived to see an opinion piece in what was once a great newspaper call for public shaming. No matter how great the evil Nielsen may have done, she’s still entitled the respect every human being is entitled to. There seems to be no end to the madness and incivility of the American left in sight. I grieve.
9
@Gary Johnson
What onus would you place on Trump and his toadies to be civil, Gary? Civility isn't the issue with them, outright evil and gratuitous cruelty is. Are good people supposed to be understanding about and tolerant of that kind of conduct?
2
Kirstjen Nielsen deserves to be shunned. She carried out Trumps atrocious demands so she could keep her job. You don't do these things if you are a decent human being. Nielsen is a brute and a wimp of the worst sort.
9
She deserves to be indicted for kidnapping and sued civilly for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Her actions and prevarication will long be remembered as one of the low points of the horrible national nightmare we are living through.
5
The president told Neilson and others that he wanted them to ignore judge's orders - in other words, BREAK THE LAW. At what point will the self proclaimed Christian vice president reconcile his inaction with his belief system by exercising section 4 of the 25th ammendment?
7
Here’s another one, Michelle : Condolezza Rice. Some of us think Ms. Rice is a war criminal who has quietly slipped back into academia at a major university.
5
They're all guilty as hell. Kelly, McMasters, Leandowski, Ross, Sessions, Nielsen, Miller, Bannon, the whole lot. The loonies, the so-called "adults", every last one of them. Maybe there will be a reckoning some day, but I doubt it. Just look at that war criminal, Henry Kissinger.
3
And the torture lady at cia.
1
For anyone who doesn't know the life of Heinrich Himmler it would be edifying to acknowledge that there are similarities between his actions and those of Kirstjen Nielsen. Obviously she has been stopped before being able to implement the atrocities that he enabled, but the underlying beliefs are identical. We should worry more about the lines of attack of her boss and how they may identical to those of Himmler's boss.
9
First, anyone up to and including Nielsen who participated in the kidnapping of those children should indeed be blamed, shamed, and somehow penalized--though I have no faith that that will happen. People at her level seem to be made of teflon. But karma does happen--just maybe not on our timetable. I would rather see energy poured into demanding that those children still in limbo be identified and returned to their parents as soon as possible. Second, I'm one of those tired "Resistors". I spent 2017 and the first half of 2018 marching, protesting, calling legislators. I spent the rest of 2018 phone banking and canvassing for our Dem Congressional candidate--who didn't win in this red blob in blue CA. But got close! I'm giving myself 2019 to regroup and pursue personal projects, figuring that 2020 will be about campaigning--again. But if new cruelty around immigration erupts, this old lady( 72) will be back in action post haste.
8
Time to stop talking politics and talk morality, ethics and decency.
I agree that there should be penalties for those who traffic in the misery of others.....and do it under a false 'legality'. Time for the "free pass" to be over. These people despoil our reputation. They should be shunned. God knows this country has some dark moments to answer for.....Do we have the courage to say no to this inhumanity and the people who would implement policies like these?
We either are the country we have claimed to be...even with
all our faults, or we are not.
This has Nothing, Nothing to do with political parties...
We, Red or Blue, have all cried at the sight of this cruelty.
This has to do with the soul of our country.
Answer the question: Who are we? Who am I? Who are you?
1
This article really says it all. Beware the baby snatchers!
2
Again, Goldberg singles out the woman in Trump's circle to single out for partisan attacks. Why NIelsen in particular? Trump appointees as a group have perpetrated a plethora of cruelties against the public. But yes, again, let's focus blame on the woman and leave the men to walk.
4
I feel this is on us as much as Ms. Nielsen. If all of us had been 1-2% better, we wouldn't have Trump. She stayed in for the power, but we were too lazy, distracted, greedy, racist, oblivious, snobbish, disdainful, or whatever our particular weakness, to keep Trump from getting elected and to realize the true trajectory of our justice system. We all have a lot to atone for.
1
The author would do well to turn some of her virtue signaling towards the roving gangs in Central America who are largely responsible for this exodus.
11
Make no mistake, she accepted her position just like all the other greedy yokels he assigned jobs. They all were called out for their destruction to the different departments they held. And when good old Betsy is canned for her actions , she also will be called a few choice words. Our children, our hopes for them are being washed down the drain because 1. she has money, 2. she gives money to the GOP, 3. She cares not one wit what happens to our children just as Nielsen cared not one wit for God's children. Yes Ms. Nielsen they are God's children too.
6
The ghost of Joe Stalin has been brought to life. Be consciously aware that some doors, once opened, can never be closed again.
97
@From Where I Sit
Actually Stalin led the Soviet Union during the Battle of Stalingrad where the Red Army crushed Hitler’s forces.
It was the turning point of WWll.
This is not an apology for other actions of Stalin. But the Truth is that the Soviets lost 20 million people in WWll and were the main reason Hitler and the Fascists were defeated.
2
I agree with the author and other comments. Someone who does not know that Norway is a mostly white country -- especially someone whose name is Kirstjen Nielsen -- has no place at Stanford. Beyond that, Nielsen's unfolding fate is what happens when one renounces her dignity. She had the opportunity to confront Trump when he verbally abused her, and denounce him when he demanded that she disregards the law. But instead of doing the honorable thing, she abdicated decency and became his executioner. She has earned our contempt and that of future generations.
9
Ms. Goldberg's idea to put economic & social pressure on people who willingly &, dare I say, with malice follow Trump's & Steve Miller's lead to do irreparable harm to innocents is a good start. Let those who would debase themselves & the proper vision of the United States know that their actions will result in negative consequences for them personally. All should remember that actions have consequences.
5
Far as I'm concerned she deserves a medal for a job well done.
36
@RJ Separating parents from children is simply evil, as are those who are complicit.
81
@Lee Rentz It'll really complete America's transition to a third world authoritarian state if we really started handing out medals for that kind of stuff.
39
@RJ The next time you see a family together, possibly members of your own family, think about your statement and the horror that family would experience should they be in the unfortunate position of seeking asylum. This policy is being visited upon those who are asking for our help, which is legal under US and International law. They are not criminals, although they are being treated as such. Your comment, and the policy you are commenting on, are shameful. It's truly sad to read letters of support for Nielsen and this administration. That people who live in such a stable, safe, and prosperous country, compared to so many others, could harbor such hater toward others asking for help is beyond sad.
87
This column is filled with disingenousness and lies. Surely Michelle knows this was an Obama era happening, as is well documented in photos, and that the AP and others have verified: "She put babies in cages, traumatized children for life"
9
No, Obama did none of these things. This is called projection, whereupon the sins of one person (Trump) are automatically, and conveniently, applied to the previous administration.
4
I find Michelle Goldberg's columns dispiriting in their fury and rage. This one is typical. They depress me. Life is too short to endure being blasted by a firehose of Sturm und Drang.
I subscribe to both The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Most of the Journal's columnists are firmly right-wing and one or two are far, far to the right. But the Journal's columns don't have the drumbeat of rage, rage, and more rage that characterizes those of some Times columnists. They make me world-weary.
As for Kirstjen Nielsen, I doubt that more than a tiny slice of America is going to take advice from Ms. Goldberg that she should be disfellowshipped. Too many of us read "The Scarlet Letter" in high school.
13
Sycophants rarely show rage. They meekly get in line to kiss the ring.
1
It won't be long before progressives are running around waving their Little Red Books and shaving people's heads. Do we really want to go down this road? I think not.
13
@Timothy "It won't be long before progressives are running around waving their Little Red Books and shaving people's heads."
Further proof that you can make anything bad about your enemies true if you just make it up.
4
I believe that the UN Council for Human Rights should investigate those involved in separating children from refugee parents.
"The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948."
4
At this point, I'm more concerned about the children who remain incarcerated and separated from their families than I am what happens to this woman. I'm more concerned about electing representatives who have integrity and are capable of creating intelligent legislation that actually improves our daily lives and invests in a bright future for our nation and the world at large. If it's true that Nielsen has resisted Trump's urging to go back to this barbarism, then I do give her at least some credit for that. But she should be held legally accountable for her role in these crimes against humanity along with everyone else involved -- including the President.
5
As a classroom teacher in south Florida, I have seen firsthand how this unconscionable policy has upended families and strained communities.
Nielsen and so many more are unworthy of any position that allows them to hide from the acts they've committed.
Keep writing!
4
I agree; Nielsen should find no haven in polite society. Though I'm sure within a year we will see her flogging a book that tells how she was the reasonable person pushing back against extremists. And it may even be true. But if she wanted to save her reputation, she should have resigned before she ever agreed to family separation or caging children.
Sadly, while she is rightly being vilified for implementing Trump's cruel policies, she is being forced out because she won't be cruel enough, or at least still understands that she can't be more cruel than the law allows. Which makes one wary of what comes next.
But let's save some of this "can't re-enter polite society" for that vile Stephen Miller.
7
A society that does blacklisting is “polite” ?
4
she should be shamed for the rest of her life.
3
@buskat There is no shame in regulating immigration. None at all.
11
"Regulating immigration" has nothing to do with forcibly separating parents and children, holding children in cages, having no tracking process to ensure parents and children can be reunited, and lying about it. Recall that Republican and Democratic leadership had come up with a proposal that 45 said he would definitely support and sign, only to change his mind the next day after the Fox pundits strongly disagreed.
5
@Valery Gomez sorry, valery, but there is shame in what she did.
1
What does it really mean to"cancel" someone? What she allowed to happen / directed is reprehensible, but when you use terms like "blacklist" and go after individuals in an extra-legal fashion where there is no public recourse for defense and vindication, you are going down a dark road. McCarthy was a big fan of blacklisting. Learn your lessons from history folks. Our democracy is at stake.
18
Dear Michelle Goldberg... What does it say about an institution like Harvard University when it gives a fellowship to Corey Lewandowski ? That Harvard and Stanford are held in such high regard, representing the holy grail for millions of college applicants, indicates something of the true state of our society.
3
@Skeptic
I have been thinking about this too! These “ fine halls of education” are putting forth the same people in the financial world who created chaos in the stock market, the same politicians who do not care about statesmanship, lawyers who happily skirt the law.
Do they have classes on ethics, and how a lack of ethical behavior undermines the democratic state? I think not!
2
Um ... this whole controversy is manufactured. Separating children from parents on the arrest of a parent happens every single day across America, and no one on the Left has expressed a smidgeon of dismay over that. Do you think county jails in this country run in-house daycare facilities for inmates? People who cross the border illegally are committing a crime, so they are arrested and separated from their children. It's what happens when you get arrested. Here's an idea - if you don't want that, maybe don't commit a crime, maybe don't cross the border illegally. Go wait in line for a visa like everyone else.
13
I am sure this is just a meme spread by anarchist sites but it is hard to ignore the facile argument.
There is no equivalency. First, It is not illegal to seek refugee status. Second, putting children in detention should not be allowed no matter what the parents have done. We all should be outraged when any child, no matter their nationality or their parent's actions, are abused. If indeed law enforcement are caging children of people they arrest, that should be stopped, too.
However, it is not allowed. If an American citizen or resident is arrested who has children, the government only puts them in foster homes if there isn't a family member able and willing to take the children.
Children with parents in jail are not kept in prison camps. Their location is not unrecorded preventing reunification.
3
@John Erickson What's manufactured is your comparison. Seeking asylum is perfectly legal. Crossing the border otherwise is a misdemeanor. You don't get thrown in jail for a misdemeanor.
2
People who cross the border to request asylum have committed no crime. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify this administration's actions.
2
Yup ! Remember when having more women in Office was supposed to guarantee this Country a more gentle,
nurturing, and maternal outlook on public Global Policy ?
Just another of those inane and specious arguments based upon "emotional tug" and intellectual Hogwash" that the
crowds *always think sounds good at the time.
This, Sparky, is why we MUST empanel and empower human beings based upon what is between their EARS, not what is between their legs. Vote the PERSON, not the gender.
Sending people into positions of power based upon their gender
is as vacuous as selecting candidates upon length of ear lobes.
If our present form of Government, morals and ethics is to survive this "Rule by the Mentally Deranged", we must *really take a look at what "QUALIFIED CANDIDATE" *means in ALL public positions from Municipal Dog Catcher to POTUS.
Nielson demonstrated a humanitarian barbarism, and a loyalty
to sources of debauched madness that should have required her
to wear black calf boots, the heels of which she could have dutifully "clicked together" whenever Trump emitted a belch.
You know ..... or a thought. But... as Mark Twain would say .....
I repeat myself.
4
if Condoleezza Rice, an enabler and promoter of an illegal war, that resulted in 1m+ deaths can get lecturing post at prestigious university... then it's hardly a big deal if Nielson is offered one.
5
@Zed
True enough, Zed, but I say we draw a line in the sand somewhere and say NO MORE, as if we had the spine to
MEAN IT !
2
Personally, I find Trump’s policy of immigrant children separation, on which MS. Nielsen eventually signed on, despicable and a stain on this country’s reputation.
If Ms. Nielsen broke the law, she should be charged and go to trial. But this is not what Ms. Goldberg is proposing; she wants a moral lynching mob. She wants her political opponents “cancelled”, a barely veiled terms for “purged” and “annihilated”. Ms.Goldberg is thus stepping into a well established far left tradition.
Having read (with difficulty) some of Ms. Goldberg’s articles, I’m not surprised that she thinks that way. What I’m surprised is that the NYT condones cultural Stalinism in its pages. This type of article is the essence of what is destroying this country.
12
"[D]o whatever they can to deny Nielsen the sort of...prestigious academic appointment once customary for ex-administration officials. "
I am reminded that John Yoo, the torture lawyer for Dick Cheney, is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and to this day occasionally writes Op-Eds for the New York Times. He was at UCB before becoming the torture lawyer, bringing shame on UC. It is morally repugnant that he is allowed to write for the NYT.
2
@Dominic Holland I'm not convinced that writing opinion pieces which are published in the New York Times constitutes writing *for* the New York Times.
(I agree with you completely about the awfulness of John Yoo, however.)
hear hear!
1
First-rate people hire first-rate people.
Second-rate people hire third-rate people.
- Leo Rosten
@randomxyz
Leo Rosten, Sunday afternoon quarterback, probably never hired anyone in his life.
Of course she and her ilk will commit crimes against humanity. Bush II, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Feith, Wolfowitz,et al were responsible for war crimes and have never been compelled to atone. Bolton even became national security advisor.
1
Dear Michelle Goldberg... Lately I have started to read your columns. Thank you for your thoughts.
Always count on Michelle to take the low road
9
Kirstjen Nielsen has struck me as an excessive status seeker at the highest levels of the federal government. And despite her deference to Trump, there never seemed to be anyone below her pay grade that spoke kindly of her.
But seriously, Ms. Goldberg, I have never read such a vicious, ad hominen attack in the New York Times. While it doesn't elicit from me any sense of sympathy toward Ms. Nielsen, it does diminish my respect toward you as a writer and the Times as a newspaper.
7
Cancel Stephen Miller!
2
Regardless of the claimed sins, this is perhaps the meanest spirited op ed I’ve ever seen. I suspect that the writer will some day regret this contribution to the free fall of civility in US public life.
11
Lynch mob mentality at the NYT. Having just watched "The Oxbow Incident" again it is discouraging to see how little has changed. Why is Nielsen singled out in the first place? Not maternal enough?
Perhaps Ms. Goldberg should aim her indignation at the ever growing criminal class in her own city before "canceling" Nielson. These feel good editorials and the moral superiority claimed by Dr. Farrell's and other's boycotts are laughable and affect nothing. Except to reinforce their own self proclaimed sense of haughty arrogance. "We're better and can't help knowing that."
Doubtful.
12
@Lou Good "Lynch mob mentality at the NYT. "
Except of course for the absence of any calls for a lynching.
@Lou Good While I do not support the whole mob mentality, Nielsen is "singled out" because she is a liar, supported putting kids in cages, and supports Trump's vendetta against immigrants. Yeah, I'd say for a start she wasn't maternal enough.
The DJT administration uses its power as a weapon of humiliation and degradation, all the while enjoying their cruel games. Their targets are the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Kirstjen Nielsen willingly participated in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. DJT has been exposed as a vile schemer and all of his aides and abetters will one day receive their just desserts. Michelle has the right idea as usual.
She deserves to be treated exactly as her nasty tweeting boss treats others. 'the Trump stink never washes off.'
thank you, Michelle.
4
So, the men get away with it, but at least let's nail the woman? What's just-desserts for the goose should the same for the ganders...
2
I appreciate MG calling out “Trump’s monstrous policies” in an uncompromising way. I agree that Nielsen (and all the ringleaders) should be ostracized.
But presenting this as THE response, and relying on the CURRENT “asymmetry” between rural/urban, cultural/political power, is short-sighted, paltry and frankly delusional.
As MG notes: we have entered “a dangerous new phase of unbound Trumpism.” Where does MG think this is GOING? In reality, the Trump/Pence regime is moving towards—and if it remains in power will soon succeed in—the consolidation of fascism, a society in which rule of law, democratic rights, and norms of even nominal respect for equality, compassion etc. will not just be “stretched,” but utterly shattered.
If that is allowed to happen, the regime will deal FORCEFULLY with any institutions, areas or municipalities that resist its program. Can you imagine, in Nazi Germany, Pinochet’s Chile, or Erdogan’s Turkey, a university announcing “We won't hire ex-members of the regime”?
The central question now is driving the regime from power before it can consolidate power. This requires thousands and then millions of people acting with great determination in nonviolent protest that takes to the streets and refuses to leave as long as these fascists are in power.
Lesser acts of resistance are important if they are building towards and reinforcing that objective. But anything that fails to confront this urgent necessity is setting us—and humanity—up for disaster.
2
I don't think we should be putting a contract out on Kirstjen Nielsen. This is America.
11
Wait, Spicer a Harvard fellow? Teaching what, reverse puppeteering? We are so, so, far down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass.
4
I must say, that the sheer number of revenge fantasies floating around some of the comments here is gravely concerning.
This is starting to sound like the early years of the Spanish Civil War where political adversaries stopped being mere opponents and starting becoming enemies to be dealt with violently. It remains to be seen if the anti-Trumpers are all bark and no bite, or if a tipping point has yet to be reached.
6
@T. Warren "where political adversaries stopped being mere opponents and starting becoming enemies to be dealt with violently"
If you see "violently" in Ms Goldberg's column then you have far better eyesight that do I.
She can submerge herself in the Blood of the Lamb but even that will never scrub off the Trump Taint. That's forever.
1
Can't wait for her book to come out!
2
Really? She's probably already gotten a tenured appointment at Yale. She can teach alongside of Stanley McChrystal. Of course, the latter was not quite as cruel as the former. He never put any kids in cages. He just broke into their homes and killed their families, sometimes the kids themselves. Does he teach a course on "the fog of forever war"? The two of them must instruct the young rich and famous, why, with climate catastrophe upon us, the one percent needs to get even tougher on the great unwashed.
3
When you think back to 2016 and recall what would be the worst nightmares of a Trump administration, this horrific internment and tearing apart of the families is it.
Sure, he can still start a war, he can inspire his deplorable base to attack and kill liberals and people who dress differently, and he can rule like a fascist tinpot dictator, but he treated human beings like stray livestock and denigrated them in ways that his "family values" party supported whole heartedly. He did that, apparently he's going to do it again if he can get away with it, and the Republicans will do what they can to rip families apart to show what happens when you come the the greatest nation on earth.
3
She kidnapped children under color of authority. She belongs in court on trial for her crimes, with a sentence of life in prison the penalty.
4
My guess is that Nielsen will find a berth at Fox. Oliver North found a spot there. Elliott Abrams struts on the national stage still, his court conviction in the Iran-Contra affair largely forgotten. Ken Starr, voyeur and national pimp, got key posts at Christian colleges--only to be ousted from that feeding trough because he ignored sexual misconduct among the "lads--ain't katma a hard mistress?" Yet Starr still smirks at the cameras daily now, because he's an expert on impeachment--that's like saying we're all experts in birth because we experienced one. Nothing seems to be too low now for the corporate media--although Fox is about the worst, CNN feeds a lot of right-wing mouths and egos. Here comes Kirstjen!
1
Why stop at this? Why just disenfranchise rural voters?
You are clearly and absolutely right. You may render her and them powerless but they still may not realize how wrong they are. Maybe some reeducation. The Chinese have a stable society no one seriously disagrees with the official stance, for long, if they love their family and or freedom. They learn, so can we.
3
@Brian "Why stop at this? Why just disenfranchise rural voters?"
1. Was there supposed to be a 'not' between 'Why' and 'just'?
2. Why stop at this? Well, there is this little thing called "respect for the law." On at least one side of the American political spectrum anyway.
Instead of separating small children from their parents at the border in order to traumatize the kids and parents both and thus create a deterrent for other families against also seeking asylum in the US, why doesn't DHS simply waterboard the children in front of their parents to make the torture they are already inflicting more graphic and so an even better deterrent? I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Miller is already considering this.
2
Nielsen is just another apparatchik marching in lock step with a man who has nothing but cruelty in his core.
History has judged people like this with a harsh eye.
A defense of just following orders will not get you past the pearly gates.
I often wonder how people like this close their eyes at night?
1
I was just following orders... She should face trial.
President Trump is saying President Obama separated children, his administration build the cages.
So there you have it, we are all complicit. We, the Americans, have knowingly allowed separation of children. shame on us.
4
Some of the posts here and the general tone of the Left's decision to scapegoat Neilsen has gotten so seriously out of hand that I don't think people understand what they are doing.
Should we dress her in rags, put her in a tumbrell, and hang a sign around her neck that she is against the party apparatus-- an eneny of the virtuous people--and drive her through the mobs so they can throw rocks and rotten vegetables at her to shame her? This is what Mao encouraged during his cultural revolution, and many of you sound as if you would fit right in.
You really do. And it concerns many of us with clearer heads greatly.
Before you continue on your hyped up tyrade against her I recommend some reading for you: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Read it and see if you don't find yourselves there.
7
The new sheriff in town and his homunculus-like side-kick, Stephen Miller, are not only lawless, they're creepy. How did we get here? Simple question. Horrific answers. Have we no decency? Are we that cowardly as a nation that we are so afraid of the "invasion" that we put jackboots on the ground to enforce an inhuman policy? Creepy.
1
Maybe is she doesn't like being shunned she could try emmigrating to a new country that appreciates evil. I would suggest Saudi Arabia but they don't seem to like women very much, maybe the Philippines would be a good option. They have a leader that can truly appreciate a heartless person willing to follow orders. Ms. Nielsen might feel right at home there.
1
She,trump,stephen [the ghoul]miller and all republicans should be sued for the abuse to all asylum seekers and immigrants.This period will go down in infamy for our country and rightly so.
And Trump still has a 42% approval rating. Go figure. Trump has exposed that 42% of this great freedom loving country is racist to the core.
1
I don't have much sympathy for Kirstjen Nielsen. She had the opportunity to resign when the child separations started, she chose not to. She acted as if she knew nothing about the policy when she was questioned before Congress.
She chose to be continually berated by Trump and still tried to kiss up to him. Those were her choices. That's on her.
She is the one who will have to live the rest of her life knowing she caused psychological damage to kids and some may never see their parents again.
Ms. Nielsen should wear the label of brute for the remainder of her life. It doesn't matter whether the inhumane border practices such as separating children from their parents and not keeping track of them were her ideas or Trump's; she carried them out. That's unconscionable.
But, I don't advocate public shaming for her in restaurants, etc. I'd like to think that those of us with hearts are above such petty behavior. Let us shame her in the newspapers, on TV and in other public forums.
101
This is flippant, I know, but on an emotional level I find myself being for universal shaming of ex-high level Trump minions, restaurants included.
20
@Michael Evans-Layng, PhD
I would hardly call that "flippant," Michael. I would call it irresponsible, at best. This is not how our system is designed to work. By acting as enforcer and intimidator, usually (especially judging by the posts here, most of which have no idea of the facts) based on propaganda, not actually reality, you undermine our entire system of governance by supporting such behavior.
5
" It doesn't matter whether the inhumane border practices such as separating children from their parents and not keeping track of them were her ideas or Trump's...."
I wonder if you know:
1) that the "inhumane" border "practice" such as "separating children from their parents" is a liberal policy put in place to protect children in detention from adults held in detention (awaiting an amnesy hearing).
You can see evidence of this in this court decision by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals during the Obama administration:https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/07/06/15-56434.pdf, and/or
2.) "not keeping track of them" was no one's "idea"; this was not a policy decision.
The policy decision to "separate" came from the courts; the agencies tasked with this faced an overwhelming burden. If you read Flores v Reno (1997) where Separation was first agreed to between Bill Clinton and litigants for children's welfare, you see that for each single child the court required the agency involved to check whether there are any relatives who can take the child; any family friends, and a host of other alternatives before placing the child in "child-appropriate" detention facilities--all within 72 hours. When those facilities filled up quickly, they looked across the country. Children were moved to better places as litigants later insisted. Records were not well kept, but this was hardly intentional. It must have been chaos at times.
3
"Her role in terrorizing children should make her a permanent pariah."
Amen sister.
2
Sadly, the fact that a NYT columnist has called for Nielson's shunning will only endear her to the right-wing media. It will be a negotiating point for her to get more money in her upcoming Fox News commentator job and her likely book deal, where, like Sean Spicer, she will try to excuse herself while continuing to suck up to Trump world.
Nielson should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. I hope that Congressional hearings eventually bring ALL of Trump's putrid ooze out into the open (men and women alike - looking at you, Jeff Sessions, Steven Miller, etc) - hearings in Congress that even Trump State TV (Fox News) will broadcast although Hannity, Carlson and Ingraham will spew their vitriol because the Murdoch family is busy counting money instead of contemplating the human toll their grievance propaganda imposes on the world.
Meanwhile, whether there is a formal "boycott" of Nielson is immaterial - she's going to cash in where academics don't live. She and the rest of the Trump enablers should have only themselves to socialize with, because ethical people will not welcome them. Michelle Goldberg is absolutely right to be angry - we are all furious - and yes, we're tired. But the ballot box is waiting.
My wish is that some 2020 Presidential candidate will run on the platform of prosecuting the crimes and criminals of the Trump administration.
Certainly Nielsen would deserve a spot on such a "Most Wanted" list .... but there are plenty of others who have violated both the intent and letter of our laws. They should be held accountable.
We need an equivalent of a "Truth and Reconciliation" movement to heal our country.
1
All who commit crimes under international law should be held accountable.
Let the Human Rights Commission consider.
1
Here goes my broken record again.
Hitler did not start out murdering 6 million Jews.
He started out encouraging his followers to beat up their fellow Germans. In short order that was followed by the systematic breaking up of families, at that time the people wore yellow stars. Today they have brown skin.
I will personally spend only enough money in a red state to get out of that state. I will not spend money with corporations who enable this autocrat in the White House.
I would like to see the koch bothers put on trial for sedition, if we can't get them for treason.
I would like to see the same for anyone who is working to destroy our democracy, and thereby our Nation.
Especially the so called man who squats in our White House. There is no depth in hell that is deep enough for him.
9
It's harder, but more important, to stop remaining members of government from acting contrary to law and the Constitution
1
I just hope we don’t look back on Neilson as a great defender of the rule of law.
Michelle, you write that you "don't mean that people should scream at Nielsen in restaurants".
Why not? She certainly deserves any public shaming that is legally possible for being at the helm of the agency while children were separated from their mothers. Yelling at her at every chance is definitely one good way to make that happen.
125
@S
Regardless of our opinions, we should never sacrifice manners. In spite of what is going on politically, manners still matter. This is partly why Pete Buttigieg is becoming more popular.
16
@S
The rest of us eat in restaurants, too, and don't want our meals interrupted by people screaming at a politically offensive diner, no matter how deserved the sentiment. As joe said, we can exhibit good manners (to the extent of ignoring her) in such accidental encounters, which does not prevent boycotts, letter writing, and even picketing should she decide to pursue a public speaking career.
11
@S
I understand the urge to do that, but Ms. Nielsen is likely to be in restaurants with family members, possibly including children, who don't deserve to be collateral damage.
11
Why should we want Kirstjen Nielsen to work for a private prison system at which more societal injustice may be carried out? Would it not be better that she grows her ability for introspection and comes to speak out against such policies in the future? I'm not suggesting tenure at a prestigious university, but to ostracize her essentially forfeits any chance for redemption in the public sphere. I happen to know many individuals that have done despicable things that became enlightened, productive members of society later in life. I'm not holding my breath for an epiphany on her part, but there are examples such as Colin Powell who were part of even more destructive activities that prove my point. Besides, treating someone as a pariah says more about us than it does about her. Too far Michelle...
You hit the nail on the head with your fact cities hold the economic power. We should use it to stall the economy by only buying the bare necessities to live through the next year. No new appliances, homes, cars, gadgets, fancy dining, clothes, vacations within America; a liitle self-sacrifice. That along with the Trump Tax cut would probably create some pain. Then perhaps we could return to sanity instead of constant chaos. There are some people who thrive only in chaotic situations. It does less damage when they are not in control of the world. We need to take control and strike back collectively.
5
Is there any evidence that losing children in the bureaucracy was actual policy, as once posed to bureaucratic bumbling as these agencies scrambled to comply with increasingly demanding standards for housing minors away from adults for the minors' own protection?
I do not for one moment believe that. I think that as more and more aliens kept arriving, faster and faster--sometimes in large groups called caravans--our agencies became overwhelmed. I think they had to look farther and farther afield to find the facilities that were up to the Flores v Lynch court's higher standards for housing, as liberal litigants good-naturedly sought for alien children. In the end when policy reversals were demanded, these agencies probably discovered that all sorts of things happened to make it hard to locate the children; they had to be moved from facilities deemed insufficient; family or friends may have emerged to offer to take them in, as Flores (1997) allowed and preferred, and they could have been moved more than twice. Meanwhile, records were not being kept, I would guess, on one standardized computerized record system for each child. That sounds more to me like bureaucratic negligence without intent.
The idea that anyone trying to enforce our amnesty laws in compliance with Court orders should be made a "pariah" for negligent performance should be really really scary to all of us.
8
@Oxford96 Kirstjen Nielsen was not enforcing our amnesty laws. We do not have laws that allow the separation of children from their parents. There were no court orders allowing separation. Indeed, court orders are forbidding the practice and demanding that parents and children be reunited. There was no "negligent performance" on Nielsen's part; she very effectively orchestrated the separations while simultaneously stating under oath to Congress that the policy did not exist. What should be really scary to all of us is any attempt to excuse what she has done.
@MD
As a JD of 40 yrs, I suggest you read fully the Flores case, adjudicated during the Obama reign.
There is the rub. Children can only be held for 20 days.
The parents are criminals and can be held until adjudged guilty or innocent. Do we send the kids to jail with the parents or separate them.
3
@MD, we certainly do have laws allowing separation of children from their parents. The "Flores" settlement encourages it. Many in the media prefer click-bait to trigger emotions but that is what this entire debate is about. If Justice Dolly Gee had simply used her considerable judicial discretion to modify the Flores decision and allow the families to stay together, as the Trump administration was requesting (or if Congress would do its job and reform our outdated immigration law), most of this conversation would be moot.
2
Nielsen carried out cruel policies demanded of her by her boss. She could have refused and walked away, but instead she complied. She has earned her reputation and for those who express concern that she should not be singled out one simply should ask; why not? She could of, and in my opinion, should have refused such orders. She is accountable for her actions and she now owns her actions. I have not one ounce of sympathy for an adult who not only makes a wrong decision, they make a decision which causes long-term pain and harm to many, many people. Cruelty to children is unacceptable in this nation and Nielsen inflicted her share of it on these children.
8
@Bryan
These are Obama policies that Congress refuses to address. They make better political fodder if never resolved.
The dems are running with it as hard as they can. That is a shameful and cowardly act.
2
She countenanced absolute evil!
End of story!
10
@Richard Marcley Water under the bridge.
I’m not a fan of shunning, though it certainly is tempting. I’d rather look at the potential for redemption. In Nielsen’s case, as in so many others, the single act that would begin to redeem her would be stepping on the national stage and speaking the truth about the current administration. If Kelly, Mattis , McMaster, Tillerson, Priebus or Nielsen( just to name a few) chose to go public with what they know it would be a starting point toward redemption. It is a mystery how these folks sleep at night, given their front row seat to, and complicity in, an administration lacking either morality or humanity.
8
@Anita
Not ONE of them has done this! It is a pitiful reflection of the Republican mindset that not ONE of them has done this.
And I am not sure how much that would redeem her or any of them in my eyes.
The fact that anyone from this administration can walk away and receive fame and fortune is disgusting, period. They’re all doing their master’s bidding, which means they’re all doing harm. The family separation is most egregious; it’s disheartening that the brunt is being borne by a woman, as there were plenty of men peeking out from behind the dark curtain cheering her on. She's going to have plenty of potential employers decline to connect their names to her.
Those “cosmopolitan progressives” would do better to funnel that “economic and cultural” anger into fighting voter suppression and promoting good candidates. And by the way, it’s not helpful to reinforce any divide that the republicans will only use against us during this crucial election season.
4
"CNN reported that Trump told border agents to ignore judges when taking steps to keep migrants out"
So the question then, to the border guards, is do you follow the orders of the president or do you follow your oath of office? If the president gives an illegal order should it be followed?
5
Somewhere, in an alternate universe, this happened:
"As a proud American and a staunch conservative who believes in justice and family values, I want to express my fiercest revulsion for the policy President Trump has ordered me to enact at the border, and I declare today that I flat out refuse to carry out this order and have thereby ordered every DHS employee to stand down on this matter. I will not resign my post so that I can ensure this order will not be carried out. If the president fires me then the only thing that will be carried out is my body from my office."
3
All this hatred and desire to punish everybody...for everything...There must be a way to think about all the ills of our society with an effort to improve the society instead of punishing the people who caused, or who we think caused the problems. How can we make things better instead of how we can punish the bad guys. In a comment to another column I suggested putting
immigrants to work. Give venture capitalists something to invest in that would benefit society. Create situations that are good for everybody - immigrants, citizens...there must be something we all want...all we have to do is do it.
8
@Robert McKee
All this desire to punish a particular person for acting with malice and causing harm to children as young as 5 months.
Trump's southern border wall mania is not only cruel, immoral and possibly illegal, it is also clearly wrongheaded. It is indisputably clear that the thousands of migrant piling up at our southern border are not rapists, terrorists, or drug infested gangs. They are people fleeing horrid anti-human conditions in their home countries and seeking asylum in the United States.
Rather than spending billions of dollars to build and expand a border wall, the humane and logical way to address the needs of the asylum seekers at our southern border is to instead spend that money to expand and approve the asylum-processing facilities at our southern border -- and to keep families and their children together.
5
This is appalling nonsense. The problem is that courts have (appropriately) ruled children may not be detained with their parents in adult detention facilities while awaiting resolution of asylum claims.
There are really only three possible solutions: (1) fund detention facilities adequate for families (Congress could do this but hasn't); (2) release freely into the U.S. any parent with a child who enters illegally (encouraging more of a migrant flood); or (3) detain just the adults as the courts have ordered, resulting in family separation.
To demonize this woman for effectuating the last and only reasonable option makes no sense. The onus on Congress to act to assure humane conditions. The second option is untenable, and can only result in worse border problems -- and already has.
10
@Susan Crowley, Michelle Goldberg's real objection is to the bipartisan-enacted immigration laws and the way the courts have interpreted those bipartisan-enacted laws when groups like the ACLU have challenged such laws. I am not sure how someone ends up writing this kind of column. It just seems the flip-side of Breitbart and sad to see the NY Times sometimes thinking they must play the same game as Fox News and Breitbart. It would be helpful for this paper or other media to do a deep dive on immigration policy history of the last 30 years. There are some books out there that take an objective view. There are so many other people besides Kirstjen Nielsen and even Trump who are responsible but it is perhaps easier to take out one's anger and frustration on one or two people and label them as villains.
6
@GRH No, Ms. Goldberg's real and stated objection is to the Trump administration's policy of forcibly separating families with absolutely no regard for the harm that would cause, and without any plans to reunite these families in the future. Kirstjen Nielsen enacted a policy, not a law, and it certainly was not a bipartisan policy. I think the courts have been quite clear in interpreting the policy, by demanding that the administration work to reunite all separated families and that it cease its policy of family separation.
1
Besides the abhorrent nature of what she did to children, future employers should also consider that she and her agency were incompetent in the performance of their work. Hatred and incompetence are the twin hallmarks of the Trump team.
When you go into a hospital, you are fitted with a plastic ID bracelet, so you can be identified if unconscious. How hard would it have been to similarly put marker bracelets with case numbers on the kids, so they could eventually be reunited with family? Didn't it occur to them that this would be a problem down the road? Nielsen was a perfect fit for Trump: rash and hateful action with apparently no forethought for unintended consequences.
6
The Faith and Freedom Coalition sent me by mistake a propaganda package wanting money, they are all in for Trump saying the radical anti-Christian left will destroy America for ever if Trump is not elected again. She fit there ticket and is a product of this type of thinking. How can any one who is a person of faith follow this jaw dropping line of lies is beyond me. This bunch are acting more like Romans than Christians and we all know how that worked out. Keep the pressure on them they need exposed as often as possible for who they really are what they are doing it has a lot of darkness let the light shine.
1
On the other hand, she could write a revealing book detailing the efforts to contain the criminal activities ordered by the White House. That wouldn't get her invited to Thanksgiving Dinner but it would be cathartic.
1
Seems to me that she has committed crimes against humanity and the International Criminal Court in The Hague should be interested.
6
There is a word for illegally taking children from their parents. It’s called kidnapping and it’s a state crime. An organized operation that seeks to do it would be engaged in a criminal conspiracy. That too would be a state crime
6
Until the border crisis subsides and the current percentage of unauthorized aliens occupying the United States is reduced we need MORE people like Kirstjen Niesen and Stephen Miller in our government, not fewer.
7
There's something profoundly wrong with an opinion columnist calling on her readers to shun someone no matter how heinous the actions of that person are. Ms Goldberg seems to have anointed herself arbiter of today' norms with this piece and her recent take down of Joe Biden. Criticising the actions is one thing, but this, in my mind, is just one step away from this president's ad hominem attacks.
10
"Nielsen did not create Trump’s monstrous policy of separating migrant families, but she should be known forever as the person who carried it out."
Not to worry, the GOP is good at recycling their trash, if nothing else. FOXmuricans have the memory of a gnat and usually mold reality to fit what they want at the moment. They will forget when/if it is convenient or suits their needs. We will probably not be rid of this monstrous sub-human being for very long. I mean, it looks like Spicer has already been forgiven for his egregious misbehavior and is working again. An alarming percentage of the Watergate villians were prominent in the GWB administration, and we have already ressurected at least one dirty official from the Iran-Contra business. The GOP is good at recycling their trash, if nothing else.
1
I have always respected the author despite disagreeing with her politically. This is a horribly vindictive op-ed that doesn't belong in the NYT. We should encourage public service, even if we disagree with the philosophies of those serving. What Ms. Goldberg is proposing will only exacerbate the oppressive thought police in this country.
11
Hundreds of innocent children have been damaged by the trump/nielsen humanity crimes. Where are the republican senators? Fund raising, undoubtedly.
4
Pure and simple, she was an accessory to child cruelty. And like all of those who chose to sacrifice their principles, assuming of course she had any to begin with, she should not enjoy a corner office or plum teaching position. She deserves to be ridiculed not rewarded
6
I despise what Nielsen did but I agree with a reader who says we are signaling out a woman. Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are even more to blame for the atrocious human rights violation of family separation. What all of those involved in this horror should face is a Nuremberg type trial but with the U.S. as the great world power it won't happen.
Shunning is too easy. Anyone who participated in family separations should face jail time. Put them all in a wire enclosure together.
2
@Jean Rollins
We are singling out a woman in this case because she is head of the agency. look around and you will see plenty of articles about Prince of Darkness Stephen Miller and his King . . .
1
One thing's for sure, Trump didn't ease her out because of her cruelty. That's the stuff he wants from anyone in her post. I have sympathy for anyone whose job it is to close borders. It can't be done humanely.
I'm very concerned that this kind of attitude by a progressive will taint the Democratic party, especially the Independents. No matter what you call it, shunning or whatever, this is vengeance, and as a Democrat for 50+ years troubling.
10
I am increasingly of the opinion that our culture war is no longer about mere politics as a high level concept, nor even about the much more fundamental concept of accepting objective truth.
Clearly, those that refuse to accept objective truth for what it is eventually lose whatever moral compass they may have had.
May karma provide complete retribution for Ms. Nielsen or any of those that crossed this vile threshold.
12
The GOP will forever be known as the
“Party of Family Separations”.
This is political witch hunt by Goldberg who cares not about the children since she never written anything on similar actions of Obama administration... And no word on the actual perpetrators of child abuse - the misguided parents who put their and sometimes not even their own children thru a traumatic law breaking process... Hundreds of parents in the US, citizens or not temporarily loose custody of their children due to their incarceration... An unfortunate but justified act of Gov't in criminal justice cases... Illegal crossing with an unidentified child is a criminal act until cleared thru justice system...
17
Anyone requesting asylum in the US are entitled to due process. The Trump administration is circumventing the law.
4
@Jack "And no word on the actual perpetrators of child abuse -"
The decision to grab the kids was the Trump administration's. It's telling how none of you apologists can face up to that simple and important fact. It's also telling that nobody in the Trump administration had the courage to sign his name on that decision. Not the president, nor anyone else. Spineless cowards, the whole lot of them. And so are their apologists.
1
Would you also suggest making Tom Ridge and Jeh Johnson pariahs. They likewise enforced harsh detention policies at the border, but for a Democratic president. Is this article selective in its push for justice, and oblivious to those that sit on the same side of the political spectrum as Ms. Goldberg? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and I would appreciate a more balanced analysis, or is that outside the constraints of an editorial?
7
Michelle, you seem to be the only person clinging to the notion that there exists some sort of "Resistance" organization, carrying out coordinated activities to rid the country of Trump. You say they are tired and that there activities have slowed down. I wouldn't argue against this, when there is no evidence of any activity whatsoever. Forget this fool's errand; channel the sentiment into the 2020 election, particularly in getting all Democrats to the voting booths.
7
History will not be kind to Nielsen, or to us, citizens of the USA. Unfortunately, this isn't anything new if you look at our history. Have we learned from our mistakes? Apparently not.
16
This is an irresponsible publication by the NYT of a call to action directed at a single individual. I agree that she was part of a system that did terrible harm, but I don’t think she broke any laws and if she did she should be prosecuted. She did not create the policy in some back room under cover of darkness-please be sophisticated enough to know it was reviewed by legal teams up and down the chain. Hence you are calling on people to direct their anger at the wrong target, target congress for not making the problem go away through thoughtful legislation. Be a part of the solution and right a column on that.
15
Who made us all judge, jury and executioner? In fact Ms. Goldberg always seems to be writing upset and with an ax to grind. Two wrongs don't make a right, which is what is being advocated in this piece. I despise Nielsen and her awfulness but that is my personal opinion. There are proper courts and judges to determine whether what she did gets punished or not. Not us. We blame Trump's base as a mob, yet we act like it too sometimes.
11
@Andreas Uh, an opinion column is one person's opinion.
1
Ms. Golgberg,
Please don't forget Steven Miller who is still behind this horrible plan, and running this hideous branch of our government. And he is still out running free. He should be caged, scorned and shunned for starters. How this man got to this position is the $64,000 question. And why he slinks around with his superior than thou attitude, is a stain on this Nation!
12
I am just as disgusted with Nielsen as most other readers here. However, I do wonder why we are calling for the one woman in the security apparatus/cabinet to not be employed elsewhere. Did Ms. Goldberg also believe Tillerson, Kelly and Mattis should not get other jobs? Spicer? Etc.? Feels sexist to me -- blame the woman, but not all those loathsome men, who enabled Trump just as much by working for him?
9
She needs to spend the rest of her life working to reunite all the distraught families she so cruelly separated.
1
I hope the NY Times keeps us updated on where she ends up so people can take action.
4
I agree with Ms. Goldberg 100%. She laid it out plainly - Neilson put children in cages and then lied about it. Almost worse than the separation and caging is the fact that there was NO plan for tracking and reunification. None, apparently. A thorough shaming is fully appropriate. If they had any human decency, all these ex-Trump ghouls would slink off into the shadows.
7
Some of us might regard Ms. Goldberg as a social pariah who foments hardline hate against anyone who disagrees with her never ending PC ideology. Ms. Nielsen performed valiantly within guidelines created in the Obama administration. I assume she is not JD who does understand what chaos the Flores activist court has wrought. Never wise to speak out without acquiring in depth knowledge of your subject first.
8
It is always wise to speak out against crimes against humanity. She committed many.
1
@Unhappy JD She tossed children in cages. This was a Trump decision, and she carried it out.
Possibly a shoo in for the big “P”. And not biased at all...
1
Anyone who thinks Nielsen will be banned is being terribly naive and are grossly underestimating the moral bankruptcy of many on the right. I'm not the first to say it, but odds are high she will have a gig on Fox and a big money book deal within the next couple of months. And on Fox she will be regaled as a hero and ultimate expert on immigration and national security. And pain handsomely.
4
@Buzzman69
For a perspective on how correct you are, web search the tale of Oliver North and the Iran Contra affair. North was convicted of 16 felony crimes including obstruction of justice, given a light jail sentence, then pardoned in 1991 by Bush 41.
Despite being a convicted felon North went on to enjoy a career in conservative talk radio and TV. He is now the head of a well known national association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North
Almost anyone else with a similar record would have trouble finding temp work...
4
Hyper connectivity may addling the senses. In an earlier era the abuse of power exhibited daily by Trump & Co would have been called out in bold headlines that would've attracted broad attention across the country from morning to night. In the digital age even pixels spelling out ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR would soon be passed over by the alarmingly distractible majority for an eye catching video below the virtual fold headlined ALLIGATOR CROSSES THE ROAD.
As repugnant as Kirstjen Nielsen is we now learn that Stepen Miller is actually instrumental in her dismissal. Talk about sinking further and further into depravity.
5
I and many others believe she did a good job. Congress is at fault for encouraging family separation and the boarder crises, and for not passing immigration reform.
29
@Rick She did not do a "good job" by any measure. It wasn't Congress that encouraged family separation with no intent at reuniting the children with their parents. Democrats in Congress urged Trump to stop this policy. It was people like Stephen Miller, a Trump adviser who was behind a crackdown on all immigration from Mexico. And if the policy was effective, why did Trump stop it when caught, and why has the number of immigrants seeking refuge grown to be an "emergency" according to Trump?
69
@Rick, you are partly right. The part you are right about is our do nothing congress for not passing immigration reform. For allowing Trump to hold it hostage by distracting building the wall which even caused the government to shut down, for the longest ever period. Our politicians use human lives as football they think they can kick these immigrants around. All those documented hard working tax paying highly educated highly accomplished individuals, spend day after day, going about their lives, not knowing what will happen to them or their families. This is not why those elected in midterm 2016 were send to DC to do, they
were sent to resolve this issue.
3
@Rick Those children are emotionally scarred for life. Have you bothered to listen to their crying when they no longer recognize their parents? That you have to twist yourself into pretzels not only to justify it, but laud it, is why I am so despondent over the current state of politics. Cruelty has become a feature, not a bug.
16
Corporate America may shun her, but she's telegenic enough to land a spot on Fox News as a "moderate" voice.
3
This is an appallingly hate-filled column. And it's amazing that someone with Ms. Goldberg's background would be calling for people to be designated pariahs. By the way, Ms. Goldberg's condemnation and designation of pariah-status would have to be extended to all of those in the Obama administration, which also "terrorized" children. I am astounded that the NY Times allowed this column to be published.
17
Why are we not also proposing shunning for all the MALE alumni of the Trump administration who have perpetrated despicable acts on the American people during their tenures?
4
This administration is filled with pariahs bent on inflicting cruelty at the border and elsewhere with the king of pariahs at the helm. And the republican Senate is complicit in allowing Trump and his cadre of sycophants to act with impunity. We need to remember all of the people in this administration for their actions. I know that I will. None of them should benefit.
3
It is dumbfounding how Goldberg and most readers seek to shift blame from parents and traffickers putting children thru a brutal and dangerous journey. These same parents and traffickers and Goldberg didn't much care about "family separation" when they sent thousands of unaccompanied minors during the previous administration and yes, they were also held in "cages" as you prefer to call them.
14
@Arturo Girona
Once these people are on American soil, we have the choice to separate the kids or not to. Our president chose to do it. Yet neither he, nor anyone else in his administration, had the courage to put his name on the decision and hold himself accountable. We have utter cowards with the power to ruin children's lives here.
1
@Omri learn the facts:
https://www.gop.com/mcclatchy-yes-obama-separated-families-at-the-border-too/
1
Michelle Goldberg may be on to something. Cleisthenes, the ancient Athenian lawgiver who set Athens on a democratic footing in 508 BC. One of his democratic innovations was an annual election for the politician that citizens most wished to send into exile (for a period of ten years). Votes were written on ostraka, which were broken pots, this name being the source of the word 'ostracise'. If no politician received more than 6000 votes then all remained, but if any received more than 6000 then the one with the largest number was exiled.
We could have such a vote not just for politicians but for airhead journalists.
8
From the wreckage of World War II and Romania's orphanages, we learned the cost of child abandonment and isolation from caring adults.
We don't know what is required to "cure" an abandonment-enforced depression in children or adults. Will these children suffer "traumatic" depressions or what psychoanalysts used to call "anaclitic" depressions (being unable to lean upon or derive comfort from human contact)? (We don't know. We do know that the Romanian experience led to permanent and irreversible neurological mis-development in children.) What will be the prevalence of damages such as childhood depression?
We do know that children separated from mothers for up to two weeks due to hospitalization can recover, but it may take some time to re-establish trust and the child's willingness to be in contact with the previously missing parent.
These findings are elementary and fundamental psychology. I think they are taught in most first-year courses at college or university.
On the level of political analysis, Hannah Arendt pointed out that the Nazis told the entire world exactly what they would do to the Jews--and then they carried it out. Would this not give American citizens pause to actually consider the meaning of this cruel policy and those who made it happen?
7
These acts of treason and rebellion by the trump administration must not go unpunished. Lock them up, our democracy and Bill of Rights depends on it.
2
I like this plan very much but let's get focused on the horrible men within that administration as well. What's up with all the men who have resigned or been fired? Once again I feel like we are so much more comfortable shaming women even if they are shameful over even more horrible men. Do we all think that Rex Tillerson was such a gem? Jeff Sessions? And the despicable hollow man himself, John Kelly. I say boycott them all. For now, it looks like the walk of shame will once again be led by a woman.
3
Telford Taylor, who oversaw the Doctors' Trials at Nuremburg, later said, "The idea that these Nazis of the Holocaust were all a bunch of abnormal sadists is not so. Most of them [were] ordinary people just like you and me." Hannah Arendt described this idea with the phrase "banal evil," here described as "malicious sloppiness." Nielsen and her ilk have enabled the extraordinary to become ordinary, and history tells us where that leads. We ignore these signs at our peril. By all means, boycott, shun, call out. But not just Nielsen. There's too much at stake to be timid, and while we wait for the next ritual at the polls, people--mothers and fathers and children--will suffer irreparable harm. And maybe even death.
7
I’ve come to the conclusion that Donald J Trump has limited use for humanity; that is, unless you are white, male and rich (women are good to grab by the p——). His reputation as a malignant narcissist is well deserved.
2
Trumps .... destroys even his loyalists
2
Dear Michelle,
Your wishful thinking is cute, but you have no idea how the Gas, Oil and Petrol party works.
This sad excuse for a human being will soon be hired by a heartless corporation like Blackwater, or Cage The Children with a six figures salary.
4
I believe that everything that Goldberg writes here about Nielsen holds equally for anyone and everyone who has joined the Trump administration. These people - to a man and woman - have been complicit in the most depraved, corrupt, treasonous, anti-democratic and pro-oligarch administration in our nation's history. They should be condemned, every last one of them, to live out their lives in the shame and ignominy that they so richly deserve. They will undoubtedly scurry into whatever rat holes they can squirm themselves into. Some will probably try to live incognito, much as members of the Third Reich did after fleeing to Latin America. They must not be allowed to. Our nation must never forget the evil committed in our name by these complicit opportunists. We must never forget the damage done to our nation, its standing in the world, the damage done to civil discourse and to democracy itself by these collaborators.
5
Michelle. I do not agreeing with you all the time but I always read your columns, this one I m with you girl!
1
Nielsen is but the latest 'fatality' in Trump's mafia-like cleansing by way of his mantra of misruling by 'fear, hate and division'. Quite frankly, this is Trump's white supremacist idea, trying to keep out any non-white human being, even if circumventing international obligations to open the door for victims of violence in thier native countries. Given how corrupt the system is in these United States, where ex-officials and lobbyists are offered juicy jobs in industry and commerce, countervening lawful appearance of conflicts of interest, for their valuable 'inside information', it is doubtful that Nielsen will be treated as a pariah (as she should), however deserving. The only pariah shall be 'justice' (awol).
1
Dare I say, “lock her (Neilsen) up”!
3
@A California Pelosi Girl, by extension we will have to lock up all our lawmakers as well. They are complicit, by allowing it to happen. In broad daylight and not doing a thing about it.
1
She should give Berkeley a try. They seem to be happy with John Yoo.
4
Is there a list of all the Trump-loving, morally flexible compatriates and where they landed in corporate America?
I wish to ensure my investment portfolio excludes any corporation that give voice or salary any of those repugnant sycophants.
4
Ms Nielsen did her job with cruelty and mismanagement but that was not harsh or bad enough for our dear leader.
DT is looking for someone like sheriff Joe Arpaio or perhaps someone like congressman Steve King to take Ms Nielsen's place. Stephen Miller could head Homeland Security. However, Trump needs Miller close to him so he can whisper all his evil ideas about immigrants. Trump needs affirmation at all times that he is right and everyone else is wrong.
Checklist/ Good Work
Children in cages
Children dying because of poor medical treatment.
Families split up and no one knows how to reunite them.
These are the minimum job qualifications for the next DHS.
In addition must be able to provide more inhumane treatment!
For shame!
Lady Liberty cannot stop crying!
2
Erm.... wasn’t the Obama administration also separating families and using these “cages”? Where was the outrage back then?
10
I believe Hillary defended sending tens of 1000’s of unaccompanied children back to their home countries. Where was the outrage then.
8
How long before Trump and Miller decide to move a bunch of kids from the cages, ship them to Washington, and hang them by their thumbs on the White House fence? Trump’s base would drive for hours so they could throw tomatoes at them.
3
High crimes and misdemeanors. Despite the paucity of soul in Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans, the time is upon Democrats in the House to introduce Articles of Impeachment should Trump attempt through his new lackey at DHS to restart his family separation policy at the U.S. - Mexico border and put more babies in cages. Trump would be in violation of the law, violation of recent court orders, and violation of everything America has represented to your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.
5
… and Michelle Goldberg should be forever unemployed for doing her job properly.
1
Good thing then that every parent who really loves their child can avoid all this very easily by just not trying to get into the country illegally!
You don't stop a flood by blowing up the dikes.
4
Good luck with that. Wanna bet she is a commentator for MSNBC/Fox/CNN and university fellow in 5 months?
1
The Nazi regime and Stalin's brutality were carried out by efficient civil servants who worked hard to carry out orders. People like Nielsen sacrifice themselves for some meaningless level of achievement. She could brag that she made it to the top or she could say I abused children for Trump to make it to the top. Why would she do such a thing? Could it be that we raise our children to strive to reach such goals and we worship those who achieve the honored status thus creating an army of willing abusers. Why do we give so much respect to someone because they play guitar or act in a movie. Kevin Spacey was like a god before he turned out to have clay feet. We need to look in the mirror before we condemn people like Nielsen and ask if we help make them.
2
'just following orders'......sound familiar?
4
We haven’t hit bottom yet.
3
Don't stop at Nielsen. Cancel Trump and his entire criminal network.
2
I am shocked to read this in the NYT. Is this click bait? It’s rude, unprofessional, and beyond one-sided. This rhetoric is just as bad as what we sometimes hear from President Trump. There are many politicians I don’t agree with — look at Obama and Guantanamo. Therefore, he should never work again? I am disappointed that the NYT would print such vitriol.
8
No, the people coming aren't migrants. They are invaders.
2
Haunting cries of children should be forever implanted in Nielsen’s mind.
4
Let Nielsen literally become the Democratic “poster girl “ for this morally bankrupt Administration’s cruel and inhuman family border policies, further eroding the Fake President’s current abysmal standing with America’s women. Turn Cruella’s stony visage into a 2020 searing image that will evoke deepening disgust with the racism and bigotry of Trump and his cabal. Be strategic and go for the jugular.
4
Good Column, Michelle !
1
You failed to mention that family separation occurred in the Obama admin as well.
6
I disagree with this conclusion
She and anyone who has worked supporting the mean nasty selfish man on the WH should be considered untouchable ie permanently radioactive
Let them starve
2
Keep writing, Michelle.
Thank you for your great insight and relentless skewering of Republican lies and criminal activity.
3
Maybe we should just make her wear a Scarlett letter C? The feminist left has no credibility when it has women who’d rather be mean girls and call for “canceling” then serious journalists with professional integrity.
2
This is a fine piece but I hope Michelle Goldberg had no part in the cheap headline, which promotes a Stalinist approach to social relations.
AMERICANS never asked for caravans of the poor of c. America to invade us with their children, and Ms. Nielsen, graduate of Georgetown,plus U. of Va. law, did her best to cope with the problem.We r a prosperous nation, only success story in the Western hemisphere, founded by Anglo Norman noblemen at Runnymeade and I could not be prouder of them, and the world wants a piece of us big time! If Joseph Califano slept soundly at night, knowing that LBJ was president, ABH also sleeps peacefully in the arms of Morpheus knowing that our vox populi is doing his utmost to protect the citizenry, "black or brown or tan, a man is still a man, we're all brothers (and sisters) and we're only passin' through" as late folk singer Oscar Brand would sing ,and I would only add providing they all entered legally.Stick up for your country and defend your patrimony, Ms Goldberg. Note "avertissement of former gov., VN combat veteran, pres. contender Bob KERRY to his fellow Dems. in which he indicated 3 illusions which could prove fatal in 2020, that (a)Mueller's extensive investigation proving Trump had not colluded was inconclusive(b) majority of populace supported open borders whereas 67 percent do not, and(c) defining deviancy down, in words of MOYNIHAN, was a winning strategy. U r the " porte parole" of big city elites, no offense, not of average Americans, who r center right and support the c-in-c.He's looking after the interests of ALL Americans including urself!
1
Amen, Ms. Goldberg!
3
Open impeachment proceedings already!
2
Agreed. These people should be shunned. The disgusting normalization of Lyin’ Sean Spicer convinced me of that.
6
Come, come, MG; tell us how you really feel.
Please keep us informed.
2
Get. Rid. Of. Stephen. Miller.
6
It will be poetic justice for Kirstjen Nielsen to find herself in a cage of her own making.
4
If it continues like this, some day our leaders will even get away with invading foreign nations, over-throwing governments and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people!
Huh, what's that you say? Iraq, Serbia/Kosovo, Libya, Syria ....
4
...and yes, continue to scream at her in restaurants and where ever she pops her head out in public. She deserves no less.
1
I see her future as another talking head at Fox. Blond, cruel, far right — she will fit right in.
4
How does someone so wrong on facts get to write for this paper? Even as an opinion piece, or hack job to be accurate, this takes the cake. The policies in effect now were in effect for Obama, Bush, etc administrations, and even the original ‘children in cages’ picture circulated to smear Trump was from 2014. And it’s so easy to sit in the glass house that Ms. Goldberg occupies and throw stones at everything this President does, but what does she propose we do with now around 100k beautiful, innocent, wonderful ‘children ‘ being bartered like potatoes as easy entry thanks to complete denial of Democrats who ignore the problem altogether? That she advocates for personal attacks on Ms. Nielsen, as if there is not enough of this going on in the nutty left is abhorrent, but unfortunately not surprising. Shame on her, and shame on the Times for giving her a platform.
6
Though her acts against families are vile, this woman being ousted is not the end of these policies but an escalation. Watch. The pure evil of Steven Miller’s black heart will come through like the intense oder of dead skunks in the middle of the road and will cling to the inside of our collective heads long after she is forgotten.
2
I am sure her tell-all book will be similar to the others...hopefully she can shed more light on how "unhinged" (Yes, Omarosa was right) POTUS is.
She will forever be associated with the most amoral group of thieves ever to run this country.
2
Nice job whipping up the rage machine. I can see from the comments that there are several villagers grabbing up their pitchforks and gathering into a mob.
She was an employee enforcing the policies of her employer. She did nothing illegal. She did not commit crimes. One could make a moral argument, but morality is subjective. The simple fact is that she was just a cog in the machine. If you are going to call for shunning her, why not anyone else? Why her specifically? What about the thousands of agents who actually, physically took those kids and put them into the detention center? What about the admin lady/guy who filled out the paperwork? What about the janitors who cleaned the facility?
You want to selectively make only the news-of-the-day person a target, but you lack any kind of principle which would direct you to do the same to thousands of individuals who are just as culpable (assuming anyone did anything "wrong"). The simple fact that you are trying to destroy someone's life in the name of your political belief system is not only wrong, but also unethical. You are the exact kind of person that is dragging our country into the sewer. You are vicious, mean, and failed to listen to your parents when they said "two wrongs don't make a right". And don't try fooling yourself. You are not on some righteous crusade to save children, migrants, or families. There are a lot better ways to do that than some mud slinging article in a biased outlet.
8
@tw: "She was an employee enforcing the policies of her employer" -- Hmm, seems like that argument was made a few decades ago. It didn't work then and shouldn't work now.
Of course morality is subjective. Why her? Because she ran the organization. If individual agents are found, treat them the same way. The janitors who cleaned the facility have not spent the last few years flagrantly lying to Congress and the American people.
Your last paragraph makes an incorrect assumption. I believe that EVERY agent that participates in these human rights abuses should be refused service in EVERY public place they go.
This behavior may be illegal. If not, it is because -- like the Catholic church sex scandal -- powerful people made sure that their bought-and-paid-for legislators protected them (and yes, I'm talking about the GOP Collaborators). If it is illegal it should be investigated and prosecuted. We know there is compelling evidence that the Bush administration ordered kidnapping, torture, and murder from the Oval Office and was never investigated or prosecuted. That doesn't make it moral.
The kind of people who are "dragging our country into the sewer" are the people who applaud the lies, thuggery, bigotry, and corruption of this administration.
4
@tw
Sorry tw. In writing articles like these, Michelle Goldberg is doing her own job, just like you say Kirstjen Nielsen was simply doing hers when she put children in cages. But the difference is that Ms. Neilsen was in charge of the Department at the time. She was the boss. Not the agents, not the paper pushers, not the janitors, but the actual person that was responsible for implementing and enforcing a policy that separated young children, some of them babies, from their parents. Parents who are legally seeking asylum.
She made herself into a public pariah by not only doing Trump's bidding, but by lying about it, and doing it so badly that there are children, that the department she was responsible for still can't find.
There are consequences in most societies to that type of behaviour, even if the behaviour is considered legal.
3
Ms. Goldberg is absolutely right. Nielsen should be ostracized for her support, implementation, and lying about family separation at the border. Her behavior was despicable and should not be rewarded.
4
Restaurants reserve the right to refuse service to anyone (as long as they don't violate civil rights laws and discriminate). Head of the Department of Homeland Security is not a protected class.
The FBI posts photos & names of "most wanted" to alert the public.
I say; Kirstjen Nielsen should be barred from eating in very Mexican restaurant in the United States for life. Post her photo and name in every American Mexican restaurant. Let the manager tell her to her face, "You're not welcome here, you have to leave."
She should get back what she put out.
6
Karma will almost certainly do what it always does----come back and bite Nielsen when and where she least expects it. I am, however, very concerned to learn that Sean (it is only one more little bitty lie) Spicer and Corey (I barely hit the girl) Lewandowski have been given the honor of a platform to speak at Harvard. That is simply a reward for horrible behavior, and a genuine stain on the reputation of that university.
3
This piece leaves me acutely uncomfortable. Spending so much time actively hating cannot be good for the soul. I hope I am not the first to cite the words of Jesus, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Neilsen's fate will be difficult enough.
5
The "Trump stink" should extend to an entire segment of the commonweal. I neither associate nor communicate in any meaningful way with those who endorse or espouse Trump policies.
2
Lying to Congress is a crime.
3
Two points:
1) As long as Nielsen has the ability to introduce people to the powerful in Washington, and advise people on how to work the system in their favor, she can and will be hired to do so. Condoleeza Rice led actual, documented torture by conference call from the Situation Room and landed comfortably at Stanford University. Efforts to oust John Yoo from his tenured position at a public university (Berkeley) paid for by California taxpayers all failed. Like Rice, he also writes opinions that get published in papers of record.
2) The Resistance isn't flagging because, "relentless outrage is hard to sustain, no matter how justified." That's just an excuse from all the young, "intersectional", and purist "leaders" who foisted themselves on progressive politics, created permanent blacklists and banned "intersections", and continue to try to force the system (witness the current actions against Joe Biden).
During the antiwar protests against the Vietnam War, which the Times is religiously avoiding covering while it holds 50th anniversary parties for all of its approved "intersectional" historical events of those years, sustained outrage was continued for year after year after year until the war ended. It isn't the protesting public that has no attention span, it's the twittering self-appointed elites of the Resistance -- the journalists who would be judges, juries, and executioners.
You need to buy a low-tech, 5,000 year old invention called a mirror, Ms. Goldberg.
5
Nielsen's journey through Trump World is reminiscent of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
2
Goldberg just wants to feel like she has power over someone else, plain and simple. She believes Nielsen in enforcing the law acted unjustly and instead of changing the laws, wants to make a pariah out of someone else and take credit for it. Twitter is rife with this call-out-culture, "cancel" nonsense.... It's really just a technique the self righteous and obstinate employ to aggrandize themselves and feel relevant on a day to day basis, when apparently they can't even win a Presidential race to a reality TV clown. Frankly it's rather pathetic. Hate to say this, but the traditional liberal leaning media outlets are again so blinded by opposing Trump they are tacitly agreeing with an open-borders, asylum for all, type of immigration policy. The optics right now for NPR, PBS, NY Times, etc. are looking really, really bad on immigration. It's been this way for months and months. The endless bleeding heart "reporting" and emotional manipulation is very, very transparent
5
Thank you, Ms. Goldberg! Truth! What I will never understand is how anyone could work for Donald, in any capacity. The man is clearly a chronic liar, narcissist and misogynist! And crook! Ms. Nielsen, took the job in Donald’s cabinet and proceeded to “obey orders” basically traumatizing families and children! How can she sleep at night?!
Ms. Nielsen, is tainted and she should be! How do you justify the horror and evil at our border?! It’s not a few children it’s THOUSANDS many are very young! Eventually, the children will speak up and tell the TRUTH about the horror implemented by Donald J Trump and Nielsen!
This evil of family separation should be a political ad for the Democrats! Democrats show America what has been done in their name!
Donald J Trump and the Republicans are pure evil.
2
It's interesting that a new definition of "public accountability" for Trump administration personnel is being broached here. It's pure karma to see those who have escaped normal means for being held accountable suffer at least some indignity for their brazen corruption.
If you buy that argument, then to be consistent you should also extend it to Trump supporters. If they insist on supporting the systematic destruction of our Democracy they don't deserve to be treated with kid gloves. That probably won't change their minds, but it may reduce their effectiveness.
We should hold an olive branch out to Trump supporters. But Trump supporters who can not perceive objective reality won't accept an olive branch and thus need to have their effect on decision making processes neutralized. That started in 2018. It can finish in 2020 without public shaming of administration officials or needing to convince any Trump supporters about the errors of their ways.
Wow potent idea...thanks for this...posted the petition and sent it around.
I've spent my life bringing people together as mediator, facilitator, conflict resolution expert. But there's a time (as Jon Meacham just said when he spoke in California last week, there have been 5 or 6 in the course of history) when one must take a very clear, and clearly polarized stand. We don't need to do that with hate in our heart, but stand we must.
Thanks for giving us a vehicle to express our pain, anguish and anger!
2
Two things occur to me.
It's clear that this woman has no moral compass. A classic example of a politician who talks out of both sides of her mouth.
And, there will ALWAYS be institutions that have absolutely no problem hiring or retaining people like her. ALWAYS.
5
Remember Stanley Milgram?
Look it up.
I was just doing what I was told....
3
Couldn't agree more. Separating families temporarily is one sin. The other, bigger sin is that the system has failed to keep track of all the refugee families and can't locate the kids reunite with their parents/caregivers, which reflects Nielson's "blithe incompetence and malignant sloppiness." They did the separating without the best methodical and ethical plan as there can be keeping reunion in mind, to stay consistent with the American family values, UN's universal human rights standards, and the demands for the best democratic practice that America has been long striving for and demanding from other countries. Well put, Michelle!
4
@Gene, no, they were very well aware of the loss of information, and even documented it by publishing standards several months into the program. There is no evidence, because there has been no thorough investigation, that there was any, "blithe incompetence and malignant sloppiness."
HHS -- meaning ORR in this case, has the policies they have about children taken from criminal parents for good reason. The people at the top were well aware that there was going to have to be documentation, they specified it, which means they met about it and discussed it, and they made decisions about it. The decision not to document on the CBP side, when those overseeing the whole thing from the White House and Cabinet knew that the children put in ORR custody would be foster-cared out in on an average 1-2 months (originally), was deliberate.
Just as the reinstitution of this regime now by Trump and Miller is deliberate.
The only "blithe incompetence and malignant sloppiness" in all of this is that the journalists have removed the Muller Report, and the fact that we don't have it, from the headlines because they, and Trump, would rather cover the border. The prize we should have eyes on is removing Trump from office. Diverting attention to creating blacklists of people we'd like to bring to the guillotine is a distraction and too Madame DeFarge.
The press might do its part.
Despite a decade of ridiculous pronouncements and a singular void of legislative accomplishments, Lindsay Graham is quoted regularly. Despite being out of office for decades and an appalling record in congress, Newt Gingrich grants interviews, because there are reporters who think their audience cares what he thinks.
John McCain was another. He racked up a long list of countries he recommended bombing. Their was no end of awestruck admiration for his unflinching bellicosity.
And of course there’s Henry Kissinger, who needs no introduction. Or air time.
If reporters made a habit of tagging Nielsen with, “the author of the Trump-era family-separation policy”, she’d learn to stay out of the news.
6
Isn't child abuse a crime in every state? If abusing one child is a crime, isn't implementing a system of of institutional child abuse a crime against humanity? She should be prosecuted next to all the men, Trump, Sessions, Miller, et al, for crimes against humanity at the Hague. Period. We all know that "following orders" is no excuse for abusing and dehumanizing fellow human beings. Especially on the basis of skin color, religion or creed. I am appalled that my fellow Americans have become numb to the shattering of the expectation of basic human rights and decency that this administration wholeheartedly endorses as a feature and not a bug. Shunning is to good for these miscreants.
10
A very emotional and bitter article. However it does not address the problem. It is so easy to stand on the side lines and criticize, but a good journalist should always objective and impartial.
The problem President Trump faces is a very complex one, boarding on chaos; and possibly inspired by his opponents. How do you protect your borders in order to maintain social stability in your country?
One has to be sympathetic towards the children who are used as pawns by their parents in this chaotic situation. Who will ask the rhetorical questions? Why would parents put their children through this? Why is Mexico not protecting its borders? Who are benefiting from this scenario?
It is amazing that from the day he was elected President Donal Trump has faced the wrath of those who had different ideas as to what their president should be. The people spoke. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei"
He was elected and perhaps he will get a second term.
4
Screaming children ripped away from their mothers and put in cages where they are subjected to abuse from both older children and guards. Children who can’t communicate because they speak in a local dialect. No record keeping to identify children and their parents for the day they’re reunited.
3
People are coming out of the woodwork in these comments imploring liberals to have civility (where have I heard this before?), while ignoring the very real pain inflicted by the administration and the people who chose to work for it.
6
"I was only following orders"! Where have I heard that line before? Trump is like a virus, anyone in contact with him will be infected for life. Nielsen's position in history will have this horrible legacy wrapped around her for ever. Miller is another fanatic who will eventually see the outside world. His deeds will surely follow his distorted and corrupt future. Miller was born too soon. He would have fit in quite comfortably in the 1940 Europe.
Thank you for this column. I have just informed my alma mater that I have taken it out of my will. I did get a fantastic education there, but an "Institute" affiliated with it has a Trump apologisf as a "fellow." The crisis our country is undergoing due to the selection of Trump as President is just too serious to ignore. Sometimes "academic freedom" has to focus on the "academic" side of the equation. Is there an intellectual argument in support of white nationalism? Of gross incompetence in the White House? Of knee-jerk abrogation of international treaties? Of administration by pique? I don't think so, and I'm not giving money to any organization that refuses to disassociate itself from such "ideas."
5
A wonderful suggestion, Michelle. However, I am not as informed as you are. Perhaps you can provide us with an ongoing list of people who have left this despicable administration and the places where they have found refuge.
I would gladly change a product I use if this woman lands a job or board position with the company that manufactures that product.
And shame on Harvard for taking in some of the people who worked in this anti-American administration!
5
Vote, folks. Encourage others to vote. Volunteer, advocate. Argue, convince, cajole. Organize. Fight the good fight. Stop wasting time trying to see inside their souls; judge them solely by their policies. Let history judge them as individuals. Our most important role as citizens is to remove them from government-- federal, state, local, down to dog catcher.
4
Ditto the Kushners, the son-in-law and daughter who make our government like that of Kahzikstan.
1
Go Ms. Goldberg go. I am surprised but pleased that the Nielsen matter will add to a shaming and/or economic sanctions against her deeds in the border matter. If Trump and his ilk war against thinking and educated and people who prefer to have some semblance of morality in public affairs, what else is left? Morality, judgment, fair play and even more in terms of what Trump has wrought has to be mitigated in all ways that can be used as he is still there at the helm with his minions. What a disaster Trump is!
1
I get it, and what is going on is beyond belief, but it seems to me that this call for public shaming is short-sighted and ill-conceived. What really needs to happen is prosecution in the courts, or perhaps in the Hague -- for *all* of the architects of this horror -- for crimes against humanity. That is what is really going on here.
3
My name for people like Ms. Nielsen, since the 2016 primary season, is "Collaborators", because that's what they are.
Civilized society spent 70+ years tracking down and punishing those who knowingly aided and abetted Nazi officials. We should do the same with people like Ms. Nielsen, Ms. Sanders, Mr. Miller, et al.
America made a hypocritical and terrible error in 2006 when a newly-elected Democratic majority refused to even investigate documented evidence of Bush administration crimes against humanity -- kidnapping, torture, and murder ordered from the Oval Office. We have been paying the price ever since.
Civilized societies DO NOT DO these things. Civilized societies DO NOT TOLERATE these things. We correctly established, at Nuremberg, that certain actions are so flagrantly and obvious immoral that even explicit orders to do them must be disobeyed.
Since our government absolutely refuses to prosecute or even investigate flagrant war-crimes, civilized people have no choice but to act ourselves in restaurants, places of business, and outside individual homes.
If that's viewed as a problem, the solution is to prosecute the criminals -- not criticize civilized people who find their crimes intolerable.
4
If a judge sentence a parent who is the sole parent in the household, does the judge “separate “ the children?
Is the judge guilty of causing life long damages to the child/children?
1
Trump got rid of Nielsen because she wouldn't flout court orders. Don't blame her and wait until we see her Trump-puppet replacement. Nielsen was basically fired for not being cruel enough.
1
That anyone would work anywhere near this outrageous policy, much less be directly involved in its administration, defines the person. There's no rehabilitation in their future. A tip of the hat to the institutions that properly shun these people, and shame on those that place them near humans.
2
Neilson will be just fine and the NYTimes will continue to print op-Ed’s on how female leadership will bring about new models of leadership despite all evidence to the contrary.
1
This article reminded me two books: Defying Hitler: A Memoir by Sebastian Haffner, that speaks of the purge the nazis did on the Justice system -among other State apparatuses- till they got all the control of Germany and Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, when it shows how those who followed Hitler did it without questioning his orders but just because they were bureaucrats who wanted to do their duty.
6
Nielsen is obviously terrible. Whoever replaces her will be worse. Trump is determined to undermine our form of government, destroying the rule of law, and turning it into a personality cult.
In addition, while we are talking about the firings and the immigration issues, our focus is shifting from the Mueller report and Trump's taxes.
2
I'm still trying to figure out why child abuse is not a "high crime".
5
Didn’t she graduate from Georgetown? I guess she missed what the Jesuits were serving up, “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam” (For the greater glory of God).
1
Look into her eyes.
Enough said.
1
What to make of the separations and caging that occurred under the Obama watch?
3
I wonder if this column/conversation would be any different were Ms. Nielsen male.
1
Corporate America and Academia are now one and the same entity. They nurture such moral outliers as Nielsen. Neither top-rated academic institutions nor the corporate world have the least interest in either moral or social justice in our country. How else did a loser and traitor like Trump get elected? Nielsen will be absorbed into the military-industrial-corporate complex and promoted, even promulgated, just like her disgusting predecessors.
2
As a longterm consumer of Holocaust literature, Third Reich reading, etc., the Trumpist ongoing flight/purge of anyone not firmly able to echo the official policy of right-think of the current government seems very deja -lu, deja-vue to me. What exactly are we headed for? Could things be more transparent as to the trajectory of social realities? What are we able to do about this other than pack a small suitcase and leave it in the closet by the front door...often the sad solution in Nazi occupied Europe. It wasn't so long ago...or so far away. In no way do I defend the notorious Ms. Nielsen, but her horrific story is part of a larger, one, still very dangerous and on-going .
2
George Mason Univ will find a place for her. It acts as a kind of "shelter" for conservatives who see dark days or at least a temporary hiatus ahead.
1
"I was just following orders."
2
Nielsen must be prosecuted for her crimes against the children. I can't even begin to imagine what evil resides in her cold, beating heart.
4
Truly inhumane acts not only occurred under her leadership but were defended by her. It will take two years to reunite children with their parents- just heartbreaking and despicable. How could any firm, college, or other endeavor possibly think it would be okay to employ her. Harsh maybe, but she is a grownup who did this to herself.
406
Accept the fact that the Democrats refusal to amend outdated asylum laws is the root cause of this issue. They should be ashamed of themselves for sacrificing these families for political reasons. The current system is being played by those who want to profit off these families.
14
@Just A Thought Democrats along with some Republicans presented a comprehensive immigration plan, twice, both were turned down. Once by a Speaker of the House, Republican, by refusing to bring it up on the floor for a vote. The second, by Trump, who decided after both houses of Congress came together to give him a plan he at first approved, changed his mind (if he has one) and vetoed it. So stop with false accusation that Democrats refused to do anything. Neilson acted of her own free will to carry out the horrendously cruel treatment of human beings, visited upon them by Trump and Miller. Both should be gone.
87
@Just A Thought
When did the Dems refuse to amend updated asylum laws? I must have missed it.
I do know that Trump is calling for Congress to change the laws. I do recall that a first effort at immigration reform passed the Senate and was torpedoed by the House right wing. I do recall when a deal to exchange $25 billion for the wall for Dreamer protection was torpedoed by Stephen Miller. But I do not recall the Dems refusing to take up immigration reform.
I do not believe that the Dems will simply deliver the sorts of reform Trump wants without asking for what they want too. And that's only fair, they control the House. The record to date indicates that Trump, Miller, and the Republicans will not be willing to compromise.
53
OMG! Someone has to stop all the illegal immigrants. It’s the worst thing in the history of ever!!!! Except that...
CNN) The number of unauthorized immigrants in the US continued to decrease in 2016, a trend that started in 2007, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. Eleven years ago, there were around 12.2 million undocumented immigrants in the US (up from 3.5 million in 1990) while Pew's most recent report estimates there were around 10.7 million living here in 2016, the lowest estimate in a decade.
2
By this time next week, she'll be working for Fox News. The Murdoch family will welcome her with open arms.
3
Nice thought, but likely ultimately meaningless. Remember that John Yoo, torture aficionado of the W years, landed a professor gig at Berkeley's law school and is frequently published in the op-ed pages of this very paper.
3
@Brian My thought exactly. My daughter goes to Berkeley but I am still angry that they took on Yoo.
1
She will be bear hugged by cable media especially - and let this be understood in all caps - MSNBC, which will profuseybthank her for her time and expertise every single time they interview her.
I'm not skilled in meme-making.
But I think the time is ripe for someone with such skillset to please superimpose Ms. Neilsen's face onto Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West, from Wizard of Oz.).
Caption: "And your little dog Toto, too!" --
-- as pets and toddlers are indiscriminately ripped away from the arms of impoverished asylum-seekers fleeing unspeakable horrors in their native lands.
2
"Cancel Nielsen"
Really? "Cancel"???
Seems that the Right holds no monopoly on attack dogs.
A plague on both your houses;
We don't "cancel" people in this country.
8
She could easily get a job at State T.V., er, I mean, Fox News.
Even if she couldn't get a job, which is highly unlikely, she could launch a GoFundMe page where, even if every Trump supporter only donated $1, she would become a millionaire.
1
Blacklisting, no matter the target, has no place in our society, and certainly not in the pages of a national newspaper. It’s contribution to decisiveness and “us versus them” is a root cause of our lack of a national identity and the tribalism of today.
4
Trump reportedly forced her out because she was responding to demands of his by telling Trump that they were illegal and therefore could not be done. His base really wonders why so many think Donald Trump is a criminal and believe there is no basis for such thinking? He's now reportedly telling ICE agents to ignore judges' orders if they counter Trump's demands and wants. Trump clearly feels emboldened by the Mueller report and worse, protected by the United States Attorney General. It is long past time to restrain this man and run him out of town.
2
Forgot Nielsen. Focus. DJT has no solutions. Chuck & Nancy need to take back the narrative.
1
How many reputations need to go down in flaming ignominy before Trump can no longer find anyone who will serve him. Because it should be obvious by now that when you work in this Administration, you are NOT serving your country. You are NOT involved in public service of any kind. You are Donald's flunky, the same as all the pols, generals, hangers-on, etc. who have preceded you. And you too will eventually be canceled.
2
The near-perfect baccalaureate speaker for Liberty University, Bob Jones U. or Oral Roberts in Tulsa. That being said, we should expect her to start soon making guest appearances on mainstream TV in advance of her new book, "Baby Cages."
2
As long as we are tar and feathering K. Nielsen, let us not forget Jeff Sessions who formulated the policy to separate children from their mothers. He seemed very proud of his new policy to protect our borders at that time.
2
This is crazy. Expel people from society because you disagree with their opinions and policies? Once again, liberalism run amok, straight into totalitarian behavior. The thought police ride again. Opinions expressed in this article are exactly why Trump will win in 2020. And thank God for that.
5
Crimes against humanity.
1
If you want to boycott/blacklist someone from the Trump administration, why don't you start with Gina Haskill, who was guilty of overseeing actual torture during the Bush administration? The baby-snatching at the border began under the sainted Obama. And why is the country hurdling into a "new phase of unbound Trumpism"? Didn't the Democrats just take over the House? Are you saying they can't get their act together to provide a check on him? The Mueller investigation played itself out and found no criminal culpability against the evil one: all those high hopes and money and all you got was this lousy tee shirt. And now you want to direct your frustration against this individual Nielsen, this convenient symbol of all that is Trump. How about we drop the idea of a blacklist: it didnt look good under Joe McCarthy, and it doesnt look good now.
6
Good for you, Ms. Goldberg. Let this horrible woman serve as an example to the rest of them--including Sarah Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller and on and on. There is no safe haven for you now in modern America. You burned that bridge behind you when you signed on to lie for Trump. You deserve to be shunned.
2
"...cosmopolitan progressives..."
phases like that are the reason
Donald Trump was elected in
the first place, Ms,Goldberg.
5
Oh, wonderful. A Major publication, one with the most Pulitzers awarded in the world, calling for the soft-murder of a government official, of a human being.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
8
Absolutely. There have got to be consequences and one of the cool things about the Internet is that we don't have to wait for Nuremberg. Try her now in the court of public opinion and do not let her into any organisation or think tank, onto any board. These people must pay for the unspeakable suffering they have caused.
2
Some commenters here appear concerned about the waves of illegal immigrants flooding America. Congrats to President Trump. His immigration theatre has fans.
Here are some facts for you, sorry not theatre, mostly numbers. Yuck, right?
From NPR:
When it comes to people in the country without proper documentation, the majority of them didn't cross the Mexican border at all. Most of them came to the United States legally — but then don't leave.
About 700,000 travelers to the United States overstayed their visas in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security has published figures.
During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions along the Southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection — the lowest number since 1971.
“Yes but NPR is an organ of the Obama Clinton Deep State (OCDS)” you say. OK then how about this?
From Forbes:
From 2010 to 2017, the undocumented population from Mexico fell by a remarkable 1.3 million.
In FY 2017, CBP [Customs and Border Protection] recorded the lowest level of illegal cross-border migration on record”, according to a DHS report released in December 2017. (...) apprehensions along the Southwest border in FY 2018 were the 5th lowest level of illegal entry recorded in the past 46 years.
Theatre is entertaining but it should not form the basis of public policy.
Ms Goldberg offers no solutions. Her position is essentially that anyone who reaches the border in the company of a child (theirs or someone else's) has an unfettered right to live in the United States. She essentially encourages dangerous illegal immigration and the tremendous burden and social disruption it imposes on America citizens -- as well as the insult it makes on people who immigrate lawfully and wait in line. She characterizes even a modicum of law enforcement as "terrorizing", using terms such as "monstrous", "babies in cages", etc. All of this is nonsense.
Ms Goldberg also uses her anointed perch at the NYT to encourage civil disobedience and disruption. While in one short breath she offers restraint from "screaming in public", she calls for progressives to directly and permanently target people they disagree with. Left wing hate groups hear her 'dog whistle' and are emboldened to violence.
Indeed, Ms Goldberg offers no insight, solution or reasoning on the issue.
8
One sad reality that we are mostly missing is that most, if not all, of the Trump supporters are in complete agreement with the separation policy and, in fact, wish we were more barbaric. What we have here is a group of people with a similar mentality to that of Nazi Germany. Beware, for we are going quickly in that direction with every new firing and appointment of "acting" directors of various departments. Hermann Goring has got nothing on Stephen Miller. The real danger to our country is that Trump voters don't care about (brown) people, they don't care about laws, they hate the free press, and they care not for the US Constitution. These are dangerous times, indeed.
1
Or, bring her onboard as an anti Trump activist.
It’s those like her that can start pulling the keystones out from under Trump’s all too erodible sandcastle.
1
I think that with Trump voters, there will be the "bread and butter issues" and the general "background stink" issues. Trump voters need to be reminded how he betrayed his populist message. He has done harm for the little guy. He wants to take away their healthcare. His trade policies along with his capricious behavior hurt businesses. Ultimately, he could be nailed on his overall ineptitude. He has no coherent master plan on immigration. His wall is symbol with no real substance. His analysis of the problem is pathetic. He could not even successfully run a private business. He certainly does not have the sophisticated skill set to be effective at the national and international level. Unfortunately, we will not win on moral arguments with his supporters. However, some may at least think twice based on his betrayals and overall incompetence.
These inhumane policies come from Trump – vote him out decisively and repudiate this madness in the next election. Instead of saying "no, I will not be part of this" Nielsen has besmirched her reputation for all time, she has to live with that. Leave the hate for Trump and his cult.
1
When she left her position in the Bush administration, she received a $450,000 contract for 'consulting', she was the only employee of her company.
She's a grifter and deserves all the scorn society can heap on her.
I hope the rest of her life is miserable, just like we are miserable with Trump in the White House, but hopefully not forever.
2
Put this on a billboard outside any place that hires her:
http://m.startribune.com/sack-cartoon-kirstjen-nielsen-former-secretary-of-homeland-security/508283682/
She paid for the honor with the suffering she helped inflict on innocent children. Let her suffer the consequences to her career the rest of her days.
1
The history of tyrants and dictators is also a history of their enablers. People like Kirstjen Nielsen are the ones who give them power and kept them in power. We should look upon them the same as the tyrants the serve. Her life will be remembered for putting children in cages. The end.
2
Blaming immigration officials for traumatizing children at the border is like blaming the cop who breaks the window of car where a mother has left her kids in 100 degree heat. Who put the kids into the situation.
3
She was just following orders...
And not that well, apparently...
1
The eyes are the mirror of the soul.. just look at that photo...
I choose to believe that this woman hated doing what they did to children but was stuck in a situation not of her making, and did what she had to.( Maybe, who knows).
Trump is obviously demented. He is totally immoral, a classic sociopath. He intends to maintain power by appealing to the darkest instincts of the angry ignorant by attacking those who can't fight back, including the itinerant and the dead.
(Note the attacks on John McCain}.
Fortunately I believe the populace has had enough and the Democrats with a rational candidate should see that Trump is over in 2020. One can only hope!
1
The devil you have is sometimes better than the on you get. As a woman you could at least trust her in instincts. Easy to shoot at someone from NY Michelle, when was your last trip to the border, and other than criticism what else do you offer. I don’t see you getting your hands dirty by running for office.
A horrible way to begin the day. Goldberg's cruelty knows no bounds.
3
"Trump is growing ever more lawless and autocratic ...Trump told border agents to ignore judges when taking steps to keep migrants out. We should not assume that government institutions will restrain the president before he visits anguish and terror on thousands more of the world’s most vulnerable children."
Two years to reunite the stolen children with their families. It's hard to grasp the magnitude of what Trump, Sessions and Nielsen have already done, much less that Trump wants to force it through despite massive citizen protests and court rulings. The damage done to each indiividual child and family is inconceivable. There should accountability for this cruelty. At the Nuremberg Trials the Allies did not let Nazi leaders get by with the excuse that they were only obeying orders or following the law. I don't wish to suggest that Nielson's conduct was of the same order, but the principle is the same: that you don't get by with treating others with outrageous cruelty because someone else told you to do it.
"She did this evil work with either blithe incompetence or malicious sloppiness"
Incompetence, sloppiness, don't think so. Intentional and evil is more like it Nielsen has no soul and should be in jail awaiting trial, and some day she just might.
1
Rumor has it that these crooks do indeed know where the missing children are because many were sold in private adoptions. Money is the only motivation for this horrifically criminal administration.
Michelle Goldberg has clearly identified what must be done to bring America together, and it begins with accountability, however unwelcome this might be to the Kristjen Nielsens of the world.
Only a full and frank admission of her crimes can be of any value now. That, and her honest cooperation in bringing the true responsibility home to the man who ordered her to commit them.
1
I actually don't think she'll pay a price. She'll write a book about how she alone stopped the worst of it and then she'll get a Fox news gig. In that orbit she'll be hailed for her righteousness in keeping the mexican and latin american hordes out of the country. Very sad commentary on a segment of our country.
1
Unfortunately, Kirstjen Nielsen will re-surface somewhere with a handsome job title, a handsome income, a handsome new reputation. Right-wing think tank? Maybe? Koch Industries probably has something lined up for her. ALEC. Sheldon Adelson. Grover Norquist. Fox News. Clear Channel. She might run for public office, thinking to rehabilitate her reputation.
Why? She's white. She's blond. She's a Republican. What she did with Honduran and Guatemalan and Salvadoran children will not be held against her in certain boardrooms or drawing rooms. Her landing may not be a soft one but she'll leave Washington with a name that someone will want to drag onto a letterhead; perhaps a law firm looking for a certain clientele. She can always claim that, at the last, she was fired for refusing the president's reach and lawlessness. She'll paint herself as a victim, the put-upon executive who just had to tell her boss "No!"
In a just world, she would be shaved and haled before a court of inquiry in a gray smock, shivering and shaking. But we don't live in a just world and those thousands of children who may never see their parents again can take no comfort in knowing that the woman who presided over the destruction of their families, their lives, their mental and emotional health is the poster for public shame.
Kirstjen Nielsen will be succeeded by someone much, much worse. In time she will be forgotten and those "moral majority people" will quietly repatriate the ex HomeSec dragon lady.
2
This column fail to point out nielson’s incompetence. How do these people get jobs that they are clearly unqualified for?
It’s well known that the family separation policy was begun under Obama, but it’s little surprise to see a NYT columnist blame it on Trump because, why not? Obama started separating children from their parents because it was dangerous for them to be imprisoned with adult offenders, some of them very nasty people. The irony is that the Times depicts measures to protect the children as cruelty.
3
Shes no longer fit for polite society.
Berkeley will welcome her, like they did with John Yoo.
2
Willingly serving this administration should become a c.v. buster, a permanent blot on any individual's professional record
On the shame scale Nielsen hits stratospheric numbers and even though she is the most visible face at this mere moment in time, I have contempt for Democratic leadership. Immigration is a real crisis and they cloaked it as a fake problem. In so doing they deliberately gave Trump the proverbial rope to hang hiimself. The kids are pawns in a power struggle and I am baffled that the words and intent of David frumm have been largely ignored. By my count the fascists are writing immigration policy due to strategic neglect.
Doesn’t this include Trump as the head of the Republican Party? Where do you think Nielsen gets her marching orders from?
I watched Trump giving speeches to the Republican Jewish Coalition, did anyone boo or walk out on him?
The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted that according to people close to Nielsen, one reason she hung on as long as she did was because “she was aware how awful life would/will be for her on the outside,” given her role in defending Donald Trump’s policies.
http://www.jobz.pk/pakistan-air-force-paf-vacancies/
1
What a self righteous stand this author takes! Didn't see her ask that we shun Obama after kids were put in cages under his watch. I know that many dems want open borders (the far left), but many on both sides of the isle do not. When kids were kept with their families in detention, the far left screamed out "facilities not nice enough, not kid friendly" etc. Then when they were released, dems screamed again. What is it that we want with our borders - open, closed, partially open? Does Ms. Goldberg have the right to write such a contentious article, attacking this woman who was trying to work within the law, within a political environment so caustic as to border on the insane; both sides responsible.
Wonder what Goldberg would do if she'd had the job?
2
Politico has a more balanced approach to Trump’s catastrophic immigration policies and Nielsen’s role. You might want to read it.
https://apple.news/AEMba1603SPOa8FkKZ45EaA
The move toward autocracy continues, essentially unabated. Congress is Trump's cuckold. Power in our nation now rests with a man who is unhinged. The circuit courts offer a faint hope, but the Supremes are on his side. It will not be long before we have given over all law and order to an administration that cares not about law, order or decency.
We are lost.
1
Is it possible to make sure that Nielsen never works again? More than likely, she'll net a lucrative gig at Fox or some other business enterprise. Ideally, she should be driven to a state where she's locked up in a cage. It'll be a lesson to all Trumpy's enablers and sidekicks.
Last time I checked, this is the country rules by law, not by mob. Who do you decide to “cancel” next? Maybe should beat them up on the street next time? You are promoting exactly the same horrific act that you pretend to condemn. Total hypocrisy.
2
If what you are trying to do is get rid of people like her, then you have a very long way to go. There are millions of people in America who think just like she does. She will land on her feet like all the others do. There is some wealthy conservative 'benefactor' who will give her a six figure job so she can go forward in life. Trying to prevent that is a waste of time. Now making sure that enough reluctant Trump supporters mark a different spot on the ballot in 2020, that is something that will definitely make a difference. Shooting the messenger feels good at the time. But the message remains intact. And remember if we could rationalize refueling Saudi airplanes as they murdered innocent children, Trumpists will find a way to do that here as well. We simply must not let them. Not sure if she is Catholic or not, but Ms. Nielsen is the type of Catholic who goes into the confessional and utters underneath her breath "Bless me, father, for I have not sinned" and then tosses a wad of bills into the basket on Sunday. And is always viewed as a welcome member of the flock.
I don’t know if she has children, but if she does, some time in cages would be appropriate
America cannot and it has no responsibility to provide asylum to hundreds of thousands of central american migrants. Currently there are approximately 11 million illegal aliens living in America.
Simply trekking to our borders and then demanding they be accepted or sneaking into America and disappearing into our population is not something the American taxpayer can afford.
America's social fabric, our economy , our educational system and our jails are being overrun. It has to stop.
1
This piece is unhinged. Nielsen participated in child torture? Child snatching? Babies in cages? Of course, the Obama administration also separated children for a time, albeit not at the same scale as Trump; and I don't recall such unhinged rhetoric from progressives. And we know what Ms. Goldberg and the rest of the left really want: open borders.
3
But, lo, she's blonde and Republican, so no, she won't be a permanent pariah. In fact, her abysmal stint in the Trump administration brought her the name recognition she needs for her next great adventure, probably at Faux news or the Heritage Foundation.
1
Now, if we could cancel the despicable clown show called Trump. Until we have a new president we will continue to see a string of clones willing to do the president’s bidding, putting children in cages, separating families, and arbitrarily closing borders because we have no room at the inn, according to the grand wizard president.
"the Resistance needs to regroup"
True. But Trumpland is so ugly. And while escape is still possible--it's so tempting. It's like Martin Nieloller--
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
If she had only told the truth during public testimony before Congress many might have been able to forgive, or at least better understand the situation she found herself in. But she lied about policy, about cages and could not even acknowledge that Norwegians are overwhelmingly white folks!.....seriously? Hard to take pity on that level of duplicity.
1
Ms. Goldberg has it right. Society cannot pretend to abhor Ms. Nielsen's conduct, including her post-firing, cringe-worthy self-exculpation, and then pamper her with prestigious and profitable positions. And since she supported family separations, the members of her family should be similarly shunned.
I am waiting for a Trump supporter to claim that all the criticism of Kirstjen Nielsen reflects Democratic anti-white racism and misogyny. If only she were Jewish, Trump could then use this criticism to support his claim that Democrats are anti-Jewish.
For the “home of the brave”, you Americans seem to be running scared most of the time. At the very least though, what you should not be afraid of are hungry, shoeless families with small children. For god sakes, grow up.
2
What we would like to see, and should see, in the near future is a perjury trial and conviction, an orange jumpsuit and a prison cell cage for Ms. Neilsen.
Oh, please.
Nowhere in this screed do we find that the parents of migrant children bear any responsibility for their reckless disregard of their children's welfare or well-being. These parents make a child march hundreds of miles or longer, with little water, clothing, or shelter, and the blame is on Kirstjen Nielsen, not these irresponsible and dangerous parents.
We are doing these kids a favor by getting them away from these horrible mothers and fathers who allow this.
2
I've said for a while that the Times is wasting ink pointing out Trump's self evident flaws. The man is unshameable and loves the attention so move on.
Attack his enablers. Ignore your liberal impulse towards sympathy. If you believe in your values and this administration so clearly violates them with glee you have to steel yourself for a fight you might find distasteful.
Nielson implemented possibly the most ghastly US policy in my lifetime (age 35). She lied about it. No forgiveness here.
Note in the photograph a general watering and brimming of the eyes—
Which is APROPOS for the damage this woman allowed to be wrought on little children at our border, in the name of our United States.
We hang our heads and hearts in shame.
A physician MD
1
What's Goldberg upset about? Record amounts of illegal aliens are arriving in the US, boosting the Dem voter base and providing cheap domestic labor for urban liberal elites who think calling their maid by her first name, Guadalupe, makes them open-minded and egalitarian.
As AOC explained, immigrants are more American than actual citizens, so the more illegal aliens that arrive, the more American we become. Soon we'll be just as American and wonderful as Tegucigalpa and San Salvador, cities Frau Goldberg has yet to grace with her full-time presence. Must be the lack of hipster coffee roasteries and the copious gunfire keeping her out.
1
Really yes she should be ashamed but why is she a whipping boy for Trump. Lets all get some proportion that as much as we dislike Trump that Bush was responsible for many more child deaths and separations with Iraq.
Correct, she should be made a pariah......but she will get a high paying corporate or lobbying gig.....and none of the 1% will blink an eye. Shame
Oh Michelle, I look forward to your articles so much. You are why I subscribe. I am fired up and revolted, totally revolted by what is happening in our country. I am not Jewish but often think about Jews who wanted to come to our country before and during WWll and were turned away. This could and is happening probably with people from Latin American countries. We must all remain vigilant and vote him OUT. Then try very hard to repair all the damage he has done. Who is with me?
1
Shame, hatred, and blacklisting? No thank you. Have we learned nothing from the McCarthy era?
3
A person responsible for child torture and who’s “lost” thousands of children doesn’t deserve any job whatsoever.
1
"She put babies in cages, traumatized children for life, and then appears to have lied to Congress about what she had done."
What is left for discussion after that?
1
The banality of evil.
I don't think enough attention has been paid to the psychological damage that was done to these children. John Bowlby researched children who were institutionalized in Britain having lost their parents in the war. The loss of their attachment figures scarred them for life. I know. My father died when I was 3, my mother left me when I was 3 1/2. I grew up in an institution. My life has been full of depression. I was lucky though, I had enough brains to survive, but it was hard.
1
"Just following orders" was the paper-thin justification of the lowest level soldiers and guards obeying the commands that they believed were informed by some kind of political justification that they could not understand. No one ever thought the argument would be dared to be used for the Eichmanns or Himmlers or Gorings or the like, who were the ones giving the orders.
2
"Nielsen did not create Trump’s monstrous policy of separating migrant families, but she should be known forever as the person who carried it out."
Actually it was the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that extended the policy of separating alien migrant minors from adult detention facilities to specifically include not only unaccompanied minors (see Flores v Reno 1996) but also to include minors accompanied by family members (Flores v Lynch).
The policy of separation was accepted by Bill Clinton 's administration because it was seen as child-protective. Liberal groups sought to protect minors from adults held in detention:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/07/06/15-56434.pdf
2 FLORES V. LYNCH
US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
SUMMARY** Immigration [not written by the court]
"The panel affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s order granting the motion of a plaintiff class to enforce a 1997 Settlement with the government which set a nationwide policy for the detention, release, and treatment of minors detained in Immigration and Naturalization Service custody, and remanded for further proceedings.
The panel held that the [Flores ]Settlement [of 1997] unambiguously applies both to minors who are accompanied and unaccompanied by their parents. "
2
@Oxford96 It is ok to separate a child from its parent when it is necessary to protect the child. But that was not the Trump-Nielsen reason or policy. It was blanket separation intended to discourage further immigration, not at all the same.
2
@Sam McFarland
The Courts demanded it, whether it was "OK" with us or not. People trying to protect minors from adults in detention fought for 9 years to get Separation because they thought it was necessary "to protect the child." They returned to court in 2016 complaining that the facilities in which children were being housed as provided by Flores v Reno (1997) were not good enough. In (Flores v Lynch 2016) the court said that even if the minors arrive as part of a family, Flores v Reno' separation policy applied.
Trump's policy was to discourage immigration at the border. Obama had given up. What are Trump's options today if he wants to enforce our amnesty laws and you are against a fence?
(By the way discouraging illegals was also Obama's policy; in his case it was Obama administration's ICE policies that the court found to be designed to discourage immigration at the border. Read it here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/07/06/15-56434.pdf)
Obama's administration was forced to change that policy by this Court. I mention this because you make it sound as if trying to have a secure border is only a Trump desire, which is just factually and provably incorrect.)
Trump was not willing to allow people to avoid their amnesty hearing as Obama had been doing. What policy decision was left to him? He built some 3,000 family units. Liberal litigants began to see the problems their initial separation litigation had caused; they reversed course 100%.
2
I feel like having a Trump Administration job on your resume should be disqualifying for everything except maybe McDonald's fry cook. Anyone on board with this Administration's abhorrent agenda should be shunned.
1
@SouthernBeale
They don't care about your opinion and they don't have to face it they are so rich. She will get a "book deal" that pays her very well even if it doesn't sell a single copy.
She'll always be remembered as the face of the evil in humanity.
1
Nielsen, Did you not know Trump was setting you up to take his fall? And you well deserve it.
1
Alas, another greedy, boot-licking and mean-spirited enabler who is shown the door by the man who loves only himself.
3
Ms. Goldberg wants to hold Ms. Nielsen accountable, unlike all the men who have served and left the Trump administration. Is it because it's ok for men to act like cretins, but not women?
"Let’s make it so."
What goes around comes around, Michelle Goldberg.
2
Trump is going to be reelected on this immigration issue. Readers of the NYT and denizens of metropolitan cities have no idea how out of touch they are with the rest of the U.S. We don't want illegals in our country. We don't want people lining up to enter our country. We want 20 million fewer people in our country. Get it?
1
For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good people to do nothing.
If you say your are a good and decent human being, now would be a great time to actually do something that would suggest that you are, in fact, good. Resist.
.
Another excellent article by Michelle Goldberg.
The spineless drones who blindly follow the immoral orders of a witless idiot should never be able to simply "turn the page."
Just following orders wasn't an excuse at My Lai, it shouldn't be for these sorts of moral outrages.
And before any/many of the trolls out there feign outrage at my comparison cold-blooded murder, rape and torture - to cold-blooded torture of children - you can just step off. There are children dying and suffering catastrophic psychological damage due to the neurotic rantings of a madman. Its a matter of degree, not kind, and any sane person can see that.
And no, i'm not for open borders. I, like most sane folks, want to see rational, reasonable immigration policy. More judges, more border patrol personnel, better tech and training.
Vote Democrat people. No matter who; no matter if the candidates are flawed. This autocratic madman needs to be thrown from office.
1
Nazi guards are punished 70 years later for carrying out orders (they'd likely have been shot for not following) on policies developed by others.
Why should Nielsen have the excuse of "it was Trump's policies?"
The needed "separation" is her from all societal pursuits, especially any that may involve her with children.
3
Only among the Cultural Marxists, e.g., NYT Opinion Kingdom, e.g., Goldberg, who think they own free speech in public square--which our Sovietized mass-media stomps nightly for them. Still Trump remains in the White House with all that nightly stomping, too.
3
She belongs in jail, separated from her family for the rest of her days.
1
There are multiple players involved in this disgrace of a policy. I hope this isn’t another case of a woman left holding the bag while her male superiors and co-creators slither away.
1
Trump’s role in terrorizing children should make him a permanent pariah as well.
1
I can think of a couple of other women in the administration who deserve the same treatment: the mistress of propaganda kellyanne conway and the mouthpiece of the west wing sanders who has apparently stopped doing her job while still getting paid. Both are compulsive irresponsible liars.
2
OK, but you know Trump will easily find another GOP lackey to do his and cult's hateful and race-based xenophobic bidding.
1
Perhaps she can get a job as a nanny for toddlers as if any parent in their right mind would let Cruella De Trump near their toddlers lest they come home and find them in cages muzzled.
1
I’d have no problem at all screaming at the war criminal if I saw her in a restaurant.
I am struck by the number of people irreparably soiled--tarnished--besmirched by their association with Mr. Donald J. Trump. A pretty long list, seems to me.
Underlying all this is a much deeper fear. I wonder if you, Ms. Goldberg, feel it as I feel it. That is to say--
--we all of us (more or less) think of these four years of Mr. Trump as a dreadful blip in the history of our country. I think we would all agree: we've had weak or incompetent presidents. We've had a President Grant or a President Harding, around whom currents of corruption swirled and bubbled. But they were themselves untouched. They seem never to have sniffed the rank odors rising from their administrations.
Mr. Donald J. Trump. Lord have mercy! The man is an AVATAR of corruption. Has been virtually the whole of his long life. I see no glimmerings of belated repentance on the horizon.
But where was I? Oh yes.
Suppose, Ms. Goldberg, this is NOT just a blip in our long history. Suppose Mr. Trump is only the FIRST. In a long line of ranting and posturing demagogues. Crooked as all get out! Fleecing the nation. Ever prodding an ignorant "base' of screeching fans down a long slippery slope towards--
--towards WHAT?
A long sad decline? Our ruin as a nation? The end of American democracy?
In the meantime--
--oh yes! Cushy corporate jobs--fellowships at Harvard or Stanford--oh yes!
Let's whisk the little treats away from those sticky, soiled Trumpian fingers.
While we can.
1
Thank you Ms. Goldberg for for speaking for all of us with your righteous anger at someone who fails to play by Nuremberg Rules.
3
SHUN HER! SHUN HER!
American puritanical hysteria rears it’s self-righteous head again, this time in the new Religion of Wokeness. Let’s all hope this astonishing intolerance is another passing phase, to be remembered with embarrassment & regret.
4
Can someone please explain why what Nielsen and the administration did in taking these children from their parents does not legally constitute kidnapping, for which they should be prosecuted? If I had taken a single child from its parent, I would be charged with kidnapping. They took several thousands.
Please explain it very carefully, as I know it will be hard for me to understand.
@Sam McFarland
They used an Orwellian spin on existing law.
The law on seeking asylum asserts that one must be inside the US to ask for it. It also says it does not matter for the asylum request how one came to be inside the US.
The Sessions Justice Department in his inimitable fashion came up with a work around based largely in the lie that released asylum seekers never show back up for the steps in the legal process.
So They arrested the asylum seekers for "illegal entry" Having arrested them they chose to jail them based on the lie I mentioned. Having arrested and jailed them they had to take their children into "protective" custody.
@magicisnotreal
I forgot to mention that the idea to take the children as a way to discourage others from coming to seek asylum, was the motivation for this. It was not an overzealous reading of the law to enforce penalties for illegal entry as I may have made it seem in the post I am replying to.
How about George Bush, Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, Elliott Abrams, or Hillary Clinton? Such amnesiac, selective outrage is astounding!
2
Let’s give Ms. Nielsen the benefit of the doubt. That’s my suggestion to author Goldberg and everyone who happens read this opinion piece.
Parsing the plethora of news that broke out in the wake of Nielsen’s resignation and going by the way she answered the questions put to her by journalists, one gets the impression that she was a reluctant participant in the enforcement of President Trump’s inhuman immigration policy, especially the one that has resulted in the forcible separation of children from their parents.
We all know that Trump has no well-thought-plan to implement any of his policies. The reason is that he makes even major policy decisions in fits and starts. And he expects his subordinates to enforce them without even a murmur of disagreement. We have by now learned that anyone who didn’t demonstrate slave-like loyalty to him has no place in his team.
Trump is also known for changing his mind faster than a chameleon changes its color. Ms. Nielsen, we now learn, had expressed her frustration in, and obstacles to, carrying out his ever-changing decisions relative to her dept. She quit when she could not take it any longer.
My only regret is that she quit only when she realized that she was going to be fired anyway. Maybe she has a convincing explanation for that unconscionable delay. Let’s wait until we hear her full story before we treat her like “a pariah for going as far as she did,” as Ms. Goldberg whishes us to do. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?
2
@M. P. Prabhakaran
Let me suggest a book for you: Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut
She defended the indefensible so well it doesn't matter whether or not she actually supported it.
The fact is you'd have to give her the benefit of a nonexistent doubt as everything about how she did the job screamed that she was all in on the policy she was applying.
1
“...one gets the impression that she was a reluctant participant...”
Americans watched that despicable woman lie to Congress that children were being separated from their parents and held in cages. She walked into hearings without even knowing the number of children who had been separated. She attempted to redefine the word “cage.”
Nielsen wasn’t a reluctant anything. She willingly and knowingly participated and most heinous of all, defended trump’s vicious policies. She did not care one whit about the families being detained, or the children who will forever be scarred because she thought this to be A-ok. She should have fled the administration when she first learned of his plans and sounded the whistle. That’s what people with a soul would do.
Don’t worry about her, though. She’ll write a book, go on the talk show circuit, garner a couple chuckles, make a couple bucks to buy herself a mountain retreat.
When she does, just make sure we never buy another book from her publisher, and Twitter-shame whatever talk show host offers her an oversized chair.
That is the point of Ms. Goldberg’s piece.
I do not understand why no one is focusing on the most important aspect of the terrorising of these children, the order not to emotionally, physically or psychologically comfort them.
I can tell you from personal experience of this particular abuse for more than 5 years in "protective" custody it is the most insidiously damaging and long lasting of the harms done me. It will negatively affect every aspect of the rest of their lives.
We need to know who originated that order and every person in the chain of command who passed it on and carried it out. They need to be held to account.
3
Thank you, Ms. Goldberg, for this eloquent articulation of what justice ought to look like for all Trump-Nuremberg alumni.
11
A small point has been missed. When Trump jettisons his staff he can blame everything in the past on those staff. "I didn't know about it, they did it." These people are not there to tell the truth when this happens. Have you noticed that nothing is ever his fault and he never cheats to win?
5
The architects of the W./Cheney torture memos, Yoo and Bybee, are enjoying illustrious careers as a Professor and federal appeals court judge, respectively. I had to argue before Bybee and he yelled at me about things allegedly happening in Nevada--that wasn't part of the appellate record and thus was legally irrelevant, but would you believe I was too afraid to point that out? It was positively chilling being questioned by the author of those memos.
Before we make an example of Nielsen, can we as a civilized society not let those two continue to get away with their instrumental role in the literal--not figurative, but literal and calculated--torture of human beings?
Because there is a line between those evil lawyers being rewarded with illustrious careers after being instrumental in torture and where we are now. Had they been prosecuted for their aiding and abetting and conspiracy to commit war crimes--which their sickening and wrong torture memos are proof of--then fewer people would have been willing to enable Trump.
12
Get real folks....Nielsen, et al, will show up employed by the Trump enablers in the private sector. I'm sure she'll do quite nicely.
2
@Chris--Absolutely agree. Heritage Foundation fellowship. Invitation to speak at CPAC in 2020. Fox & Friends resident immigration "expert." There will be many opportunities for Ms. Nielsen. And, judging from many of the apologists commenting here, she will be warmly welcomed.
Shining City on the Hill? I don't think so after seeing what we have become.
Unless there is a price to be paid for such behavior, we will continue to slide into the muck of history along with other disreputable states.
There should be a price to be paid. Even if it merely the besmirching of your reputation.
5
Everything Goldberg says regarding Nielsen is correct.
But let's not forget the "mastermind" of this administration's inhumane and frankly un-human immigration policies -
Stephen Miller.
The same Stephen Miller whose sole high school extra-curricular activity appears to have been advocating hate against his Hispanic classmates.
Mr. Miller's rabbi has denounced him.
Mr. Miller's uncle has denounced him.
Mr. Miller's parents have not uttered a word in his defense.
Mr. Miller's grandparents and great-grandparents were refugees from Belarus. One expect's that if they could somehow rise from their graves, they'd promptly sit shiva for him.
I suggest that post-administration (this too shall pass) all people of good faith collectively sit shiva for Mr. Miller.
Don't physically harm him. Don't take any tangible adverse action.
But, let him experience being the "other." We all should carry on as though he no longer exists.
22
Larry, I didn’t know about his background until your comment. All the more reason to think Miller is mentally ill, or is he just....evil?! Also, he is only 33! What is he doing advising anyone?! At 33, one has just barely entered adulthood. Hope that Stephen Miller will one day wake up and face the truth of the horror and trauma he created in .....helpless children!
1
@Larry P.
Stephen Miller is The Joker in Batman. He thrives on the fact that people fear and despise him. It gives him power. The Trump administration has proven that there are millions of Americans who seek evil personified.
Kirstjen Nielsen wants to be liked. Too bad she picked Trump as her emotional lover, but she's an intelligent adult woman and it was her choice. Now that the love has turned to hate she has to face the consequences.
3
"Rather, those horrified by family separation should do whatever they can to deny Nielsen the sort of cushy corporate landing..."
Corporate America has no morals. If a corporation sees her as a plus for them, she'll be hired and well compensated.
3
This article does nothing to help our situation.
Read Arthur Brooks latest book it’s a much better approach.
Keep digging the canyon that divides us and maybe the country will truly break.
3
Actually, we are not as “divided” as many think! Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump and his vile policies. Majority of Americans are united in wanting to end family separation! We are not so divided, believe me!
@Mari Majority of Americans don't want illegal aliens in our country, either!
1
Are you kidding? Nielsen will be welcomed by Republicans everywhere and is certain to land a cushy job somewhere. The only Trump supporters that will protest will be the ones who think she didn't go far enough.
3
This has gone far enough. Hatred of Trump and all who work for the administration has become a media story every day, every article. You and others in the media don't understand you are pushing Americans to extremes. Trump will probably win re-election because of all the hate the media is putting out there.
5
I’m sorry but suggesting that Nielsen should not be rewarded for her reprehensible actions is not the moral equivalent of separating children from their families and putting them in cages.
I’m sorry that things have gotten to this point, but we are long past the point of merely having policy disagreements between political parties. The Republicans have declared war on Blue America and on our very democracy. It pains me to say this but I believe that we are in an existential struggle over the soul of our nation. Violence is not the answer, but neither is pretending that this is not what is happening.
At the very least decent people need courage and moral clarity and must continue to resist.
6
We all agree with your first sentence.
I am very uncomfortable with this. Black listing, shunning and public shaming is really not appropriate in a democratic society. We don't have to love Nielsen but she did not do anything illegal. We have an elected government and it is not up to individuals to decide what orders or laws to abide by. What she did is not at the level of a "war crime". Do we publish a list of ICE officers for "cancelation"? Who decides what is unacceptable and who pays? This is mob scapegoating with no room for nuance, or acceptance. Demonize, hate, punish. This is the path to civil war.
8
Wrong! We must hold our government accountable! Family separation and children held in camps and cages is NOT what America stands for!
When she testified at her confirmation hearing that she did not know that Norway is composed of Caucasians, were you expecting a stellar and ethics-drlven performance from her in this position? She is just one more of the best people that Trump promised
2
This article links to another one where it is alleged that the president clearly told Neilson and others that he wanted them to ignore jusge's orders - in other words, BREAK THE LAW. At what point will the self proclaimed Christian vice president reconcile his inaction with his belief system by exercising section 4 of the 25th ammendment?
1
Somehow I don't think the vast majority of corporations in America have any cares about Ms. Neilson's performance as head of the department that has managed to disgrace this nation in front of the whole world except maybe North Korea, Iran and Russia.
Perhaps if here legacy were to be that she be known as "Konzentration Kamp Kirstjen" America and the World will remember what she did to poor, innocent and now permenantly damaged children. She, along with trump are the manifestation of all that has gone terribly wrong with this country.
5
forceful,, unlawful separation of children from parents is a hallmark action of genocide. this is clearly a crime against humanity, and justifies prison sentences for all involved, from trump down to each and every ice agent. let the trials begin. until that time, shunning, and noncooperation with evil, is all the power we have against these monstrous people.
5
@Michael R, genocide is defined as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part," a racial, ethnical, national, or religious group. I don't think you can build a case that the Trump administration is doing that. There is such a thing as over-the-top criticism, and it isn't helpful, not to ending the Trump policies, and not to ending genocide.
1
Goldberg is one of the rare journalists who writes publically what she thinks. How long will she be able to in this Trumpian era?
2
The worst part is that Goldberg is just shouting at the rain. Nielsen will be fine. She'll write a book. She'll be hired by Stanford or some right wing outfit with even less shame. She'll be on Fox, she will have speaking engagements throughout the midwest (where those Central American immigrants are a clear and present danger don't you know) and she will reap the eternal benefit that we are all too soft to be "mean" to her for more than six months.
1
@Ted, there are very few outfits with less shame than Stanford.
Rick Wilson, who wrote the book "Everything Trump Touches Dies," didn't know how prophetic he was. It just keeps coming...to the detriment of the Republic.
2
Many of us that might find the idea of black balling someone a bit of a slippery slope & ugly do so because precisely we find the child separation act so repulsive - the idea of retaliation is also not a bug part of our vocabulary.
Thankfully there will be institutions that won't want to associate themselves with former admin staff that supported & enabled this horrific policy. Sadly there will always be some that will reward them for their allegiance to the party.
Personally I think members if the GOP that basically have abandoned their principles and obligation to constituents & country to follow Trump should all be booted & banned from further public service. What some of these agency heads have done should be criminal.
1
We know who the real villain is in this administration: Stephen Miller! When will people start calling him out?
2
Children separated from parents might radicalize at some point in their young adult lives and become the terrorists that DHS is supposed to protect us from. Funny how that remit has been buried in the focus on Trump's Wall.
1
A small hope, yet a hope.
2
She is one heck of a word slinger when it comes to S-V-O accountability. Her replies to congressional queries were frightening in their maliciously graceful delivery. Michelle's call here is indeed strong, but just. Now can we agree that Haley deserves as much for her hyperbolic indignation at the UN? At least a close second.
2
Nielsen is nothing more than an evil human being.
One thing you can say about Trump is that he does bring out the
worst in people.
2
It may be difficult to restrain our hostile impulses as the flash flood of Trumpian waste flushes down the Potomac with enough poison & fecal material to pollute the entire East Coast. While there is no denying the disaster that Trump & Putin have brought to our nation, if we accept that hate has any place in our range of responses, we will be cooperating with their intended destruction of our democracy. We should all work to the limits of our abilities and personal resources to reestablish civility and integrity into our governmental & business institutions. But we must not succumb to Trump's campaign to instill hatred among our citizens, along with the political conflicts he has ignited throughout his career in public service (?).
The policy and the "buck" ends at the President's desk. Period. All who work for him including, Miller (Iago on Trump's shoulder) and the political family need to go. Kristjen's "crime" was not being tougher. Was she wrong. But give her a break. She was walking between the devil and the fire. As Mattis, McMaster, and McMaster. Every one who is fired for standing up to this mental ill is being traded for someone 10x worse., Look at the recent FED nominee. The Pizza Man. An apt Pizza name--Godfather. Mafia Godfathers are smarter than all the people now in Administration.
None of these so-called "asylum seekers" should have been allowed over the border in the first place. It's really easy to keep families together if they just stay together south of the border while they follow the legal procedures to enter my country legally. Simple. Attempting to demonize Ms. Nielsen because you advocate for "open borders" is pointless. Mexico needs to seal up their southern border to illegal aliens, as well.
2
@Hat Trick, my country has a law that anyone on U.S. soil may ask for asylum regardless of how they got there. It is an implementation of the 1967 Protocol to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which has been signed by my country's president and ratified by 2/3 majority of my country's Senate.
My country has a Constitution which demands the rule of law, not of men, and my country's Constitution has been studied and copied the world over. My country believes that unalienable rights are the reason that governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. And my country's Constitution contains provisions that when any president has violated all of that with high crimes and misdemeanors, he shall be removed from office.
Kirstjen Nielsen implemented a deliberately cruel and inhumane policy, on behalf of a deliberately cruel and inhumane president. Nowhere in my country's Constitution or laws does it give permission to a president to be deliberately cruel and inhumane to defend this country. Not even in war.
@ondelette Your version of the law of MY country is incomprehensible to me. The millions of people invading MY country illegally are not asylum seekers. These hordes have been coached to ask for asylum, thereby gumming up the works for people who sincerely want to come to MY country LEGALLY. It is very clear that you support illegals; I do not.
1
Can you imagine a man getting the Scarlet Letter treatment like this?
Who would want to be part of this administration? Once you work for Trump the “stain of Cain” will be with you all of your life.
1
Colin Powell could have stopped the Bush/Cheney Iraq War Idiocy, but chose to lie to the world from the UN stage. He suffered not a whit of public shame or loss of income. If not him and the other minions who supported that Mesopotamia Mess, why Ms. Nielsen?
3
Let me get this straight. She is being replaced because she was not tough enough on immigrants? Shameful indeed!
1
Wait, so Obama didn't put illegal migrants into the hieleras? Should he also be a pariah? I guess some abuses of immigrants are ok (as long as you're a Democrat), but others are just a bit too far?
3
Thank you, Madame Defarge.
1
One sincerely hopes.
1
From your mouth to God's ear.
2
21 November 1945 Nuremburg Germany: Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal; SCOTUS Chief Justice Jackson framing the trial of German leaders for "crimes against the peace of the world so calculated, so malignant, so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.
. . .these prisoners represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. [They are] living symbols of racial hatreds, violence, and the arrogance and cruelty of power. . . .symbols of fierce nationalism . . ."
"The Law of Individual Responsibility: [We] will be concerned with the brains and authority back of all the crimes. . . .men of a station and rank which does not soil its own hands with blood . . .who knew how to use lesser folk as tools. We want to reach the planners and designers, the inciters and leaders without whose evil architecture the world would not have been for so long scourged with the violence and lawlessness . . .
Crimes always are committed only by persons. . . .one who committed criminal acts may not take refuse in superior orders nor in the doctrine that [these] crimes were acts of states.
Modern civilization puts unlimited weapons of destruction in the hands of men. It cannot tolerate so vast an area of legal irresponsibility."
The man in The White House, Sessions+Miller+Nielsen too, go to The Hague for their trial.
2
Imagine that! A heartless, dishonest, malicious flunky fired because she wasn't heartless, dishonest, malicious enough. Imagine her craven replacement, being interviewed for the position, promising he'll do what it takes to make his master happy by proving a man can be crueler and much more inhumane than the hapless Nielsen.
1
> Let’s make it so.
2
Would you say the same if she were a man? Sexist double standard.
2
Right on Michelle! Unfortunately there is probably a warm seat for her over at FOX. She needs to be on the hot seat along with all the other Trumpettes. Waiting on the warm bench is Barr.
2
Since the caging of children is abhorrent under Trump then it must have been equally abhorrent under that other pariah, Obama.
3
You don't get to give tacit approval to child abuse, and than just walk away. Everyone in this administration is guilty of the horrors at our southern border. History will not look back with pride at these folks.
2
She's a real Cruella DeVille; cruel to babies and children rather than Dalmatian puppies too.
Now she can join all the other washed up Trump toadies groveling for a buck in dark corners. The Mooch & Spicey are calling. There will be a lot more company soon, in Dante's inferno.
1
You should not single out the woman when you make no suggestion of how to deal with the men (Spicer, Lewendowski, and McMaster) and the organizations where they landed. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Don’t “cancel” her, prosecute her for crimes against humanity. People who allow keeping children in cages shouldn’t just lose out on cushy corporate jobs and speaking fees, they should be sent to the Hague. Harass her in public? You have no imagination.
1
Shunning? Ostracism? How about prison! Lock her up, and anyone else instrumental in carrying out this crime.
1
Trump has thrown her under the bus, and that is just where she belongs. A cautionary tale for all who do Trump’s dirty work.
1
Frankly, I wouldn't have anything to do with anyone that worked in the Trump administration. They're all morally and ethically suspect at best and corrupt and evil at worst. All of them should be avoided like the Bubonic Plague.
1
She has shown zero remorse. She publically stated that she still supports the Buffoon's border "security" policies! (Which says to me she supports his racism!)
Until there is an acceptance of guilt and an expression of remorse I say no mercy! Absolutely none!
Treat her as a pariah!
These were crimes against humanity! No mercy without acceptance of guilt and remorse!
2
Consider it done. This woman should never, ever, be allowed to work for the USG again.
2
The real monsters are the Dems in congress who knowingly allow this to go on for their own political gain. Despicable.
Goldberg's vindictive and hateful screeds never fail to outrage the loyal resistance.
2
Kirstjen Nielsen garners NO respect and should never be allowed access to power, policy or public speech. She is a disgrace among the disgraced.
1
When members of the Senate and the House used to refer to Obama as "this lawless president," "lawless" was simply a code word for "black." Now we're actually seeing what a lawless president looks like. It's pretty scary. Elections have consequences, as those same conservatives never tire of reminding us.
2
"...the Trump stink never washes off." Thank you, Ms. Goldberg. That made my day.
When this vile man and his enablers and sycophants are finally out of office (Nov 2020 please) our poor nation has a lot of scrubbing to do.
4
As she wanders through her day, she should consistently speak to people who just look at her and walk away. But not just her. Many of the others responsible for Trump as well.
3
Frau Nielsen is merely another proxy for the pain mercilessly inflicted by her former boss. Her actions were no less unconscionable than each and every member of this totally corrupt administration as well as the steadfastly complicit and complacent base of shamefully un-American hypocrites.
Five more years of this distopia is 4 years too many and
will definitely destroy our democracy..
Vote.
3
Heartless and cold...Deeply disturbed to carry water for a madman...Nielsen will soon lean "everything trumps touches dies."
2
This is nothing less than incitement to retribution by the internet mob. The very phrase "cancel her" evokes violence. Hillary Clinton pushed for the Iraq War and its attendant atrocities. Much worse than what Kirstjen Nielsen did at the border. Cancel her too? We need more civility. Please.
3
Conviction alone will not slow down the march of fascism taking place in the here and now. It will require the kind of courage and determination that went into the writing of this column. We're not in Kansas anymore.
6
This column encourages a vendetta against a discredited government employee in the midst of a violently divided country.
To enable an escalation of America’s hateful Trump incited division is the last thing we need.
The solution to eliminating cruel behavior in government bureaucrats is to replace Trump at the next election.
Starting a witch hunt for wrong doers will only further the tearing apart of the country!
1
This is now the Miller White House. Be afraid, be very afraid.
6
She deserves more than being fired for executing the horrible policies, and serving monster of a master. May be an exile in one of those countries where the children are coming from would do her justice.
1
Trump is having a hard time finding volunteers who will willfully commit "crimes against humanity" for the Dear Leader.
Hopefully, those who takes take these jobs for Trump, will all go to prison, when justice returns to the USA.
5
I wonder what she says to her own children around the dinner table.
2
If any threats or harm comes to Ms.Nielsen or her family, it is on your shoulders Goldberg.
"cancel" her?
encouraging violence or even public humiliation is awful. I hope once your self righteousness fades, you can see this.
Mao's Cultural Revolution, redux. scary, slippery slope
2
Nielsen deserves to be a historical pariah for her role in the cruel family separation policy of the Trump administration. But even she resisted the reinstitution of this illegal policy demanded by Trump and his anti immigrant fanatic Stephen Miller.
It is truly Trump who is the ultimate Pariah whose anti immigrant policies and rhetoric will go down in history as despicable, hateful, and as Beto O’Rourke recently said poignantly something that would routinely happen in 1930 Germany. It is Trump who will be considered like Joe McCarthy as a man without decency.
It is time for Trump and his entire cabinet of scoundrels and incompetents to be impeached by the truth of their depravity and by all decent and patriotic Americans!
1
Kirstjen Nielsen along with a bunch of other Trump staffers and Trump himself should face charges from the International Criminal Court.
3
“She did this evil work with either blithe incompetence or malicious sloppiness, failing to create a system to properly track kids who were ripped from their families.”
The banality of evil.
She will be able to become a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute or the Heritage Foundation or the Federalist Society or the John Birch Society.
7
This woman did so many indefensible things. Her statement to congress, "They're not cages..." suggested she was either completely divorced from reality or just decided to lie like her boss. Of course, we see where that loyalty got her...right under the Trump bus.
2
Ms. Goldberg, I support you, admire your work, and agree with this column.
Why do people think that we shouldn’t call out people who do evil acts? Why do they think that hurting children, but being in a cushy job while you do it, somehow gives you a pass?
All these calls for “civility” and the moaning of snowflakes about the crazy left. You either support hurting children, or you think it is abhorrent and worthy of shunning. I’ll pick the latter and I feel comfortable doing so. Why don’t you?
3
Nielsen is a criminal. She lied to Congress, she also implemented actions that are against international law and US law, and state laws. So, she should be arrested and tried as a criminal. Quite sure she will be convicted given how blatant her lies to congress were. However, that won't result in her being shunned, not in the US anyway. Prison time is a badge of honour among the elites and the powerful in the US. You can make big money writing about your terrible deeds and then your "redemption". This really got going years ago with Martha Stewart, and the Enron gang. It will play out again.
This is a disturbingly mean-spirited attack. If any commenter here displayed one tenth the vitriol towards Goldberg, their comment would never see the light of day. Frankly, it is time to strengthen our laws on slander. To openly call someone a "child torturer" and advocate for their personal ruin should be grounds for a libel suit and monetary damages.
3
@Robert
I gather you've never seen a single Trump rally, heard a single Trump speech, read a single Trump tweet...
1
"I was just following orders" was the line we heard at the Nurenberg trial and from many Germans after WW11. Strange how this neo-faschist thinking is emanating from Trump's clack of
inept, follow the leader or else group of officials. And now, with
Steven Miller, the Dhark Vader of Trumps administration in charge, it will get worse. Child separation will revive in full bloom
as he is the one guy who obeys, without humanity. In charge of
immigration now? God help us! It's a hurting field - this Trump administration. Where is our congress? We need statesmen and
women to voice our concerns. Nielsen was just the public face of Steven Miller's darkness.
1
She will be the next star on FOX with a seven figure salary.
The Hague should be her next stop. Crimes against humanity.
There are worse things than being fired by Trump, like not being fired by Trump.
But to those who have been ousted, penance is required for your sins in advancing the egregious/lawless policies of Trump. And caging children stands out as a particularly odious directive.
To all you ex-Trumpets, make amends by publicly denouncing Trump and his politics of hate. It may be your only saving grace.
Too bad there isn't still a Theranos board for her to go.
No, personal attacks on individuals will not solve the nation's current nightmare. All of Trump's sycophants, and in fact Trump himself, could disappear tomorrow yet the core problems will remain. Nielsen and Trump are simply representatives of the nearly one half of America that is racist, sexist, religiously intolerant and entirely incapable of accepting any member of the LGBTQ community. We must figure out how to change America. Only then will our leadership change.
2
Michele, if you only knew what it's like to be a LEGAL immigrant in the US you wouldn't have insulted Ms. Nielsen. Instead of trying to see from her perspective or imagine being her shoes, you just conclude in your impartial opinion. You who hurl insults at other people are as guilty, if not more than, as the ones you insult.
2
You are so naive. People don't support Trump in spite of his sadism. They support him BECAUSE of it. Blacklisting Nielsen won't work, and even if somehow it does, it will just energize the Trumpsters even more. Nice idea, but as we are seeing, the people taking over after Nielsen's departure are going to be even worse.
"Nielsen should not be permitted to launder her reputation through a fellowship at Harvard, like Corey Lewandowski or Sean Spicer did." Please tell me a "fellowship at Harvard" means clapping erasers together or some other menial task like scrapping gum from the bottom of desks. What was Harvard thinking? Perhaps a Scoundrel Scholarship or a Liars Legacy program?
"I was only following orders," said the Nazi foot soldiers. "I didn't know," said the Good German citizens.
I've often wondered, in my lifetime of relative peace and NATO alliances, how that could have happened. Particularly the latter. Now, I think I may understand. Years of hate-fueled propoganda against the Other, labeled "vermin", and constant chaos and stripping away of societal norms leaves people exhausted. "I didn't know" was really "I couldn't fight it any longer; I din't have the energy to engage any longer."
Let's hope 21st century resistance does not give in to fatigue.
Do you recall the Cultural Revolution? Socialism always calls for the outcast of those who don't "get it".
a slippery, ugly slope ahead.
1
If only we shared a 2000 mile border with Norway.
This is an amazing opinion piece. Retribution? Kind of like the central American gangs, in my opinion. Grab a knife, and we all take a stab. Ever heard of "Lord of the Flies?"
Be afraid, America.
2
What possible advantage to her (or Kelly) was there in working for trump? Stealing children from their parents?? What a legacy. She'll spend the rest of her dishonored life answering for that.
"Our country is FULL!" ??? Today's migrants are just the run-up for the global migration to come when climate change is in full swing. Only a spoiled, heartless fool, who revels in playing the bad boy king, would say or believe such a thing. And only deluded white Americans, stuck in their privilege of years gone by, would elect such a man as their leader.
Ask the farmers and the meatpackers if they don't need workers. Ask the tourist industry if they don't need the tourists we've scared off. Ask the colleges and universities if they don't need foreign students, because those institutions are going out of business. China is now the 4th destination of choice for international college students...and rising.
Americans assume that the admiration the world once showed us is automatic, a rite of American Exceptionalism. What a disease that is.
They don't realize the world has passed us by. While we've been sleeping, dreaming of past glory, totalitarian China has bought up the place. They're building infrastructure all over the developing world. We used to do that. Now our own infrastructure is falling down on "Mr. Master Builder"'s watch because he was more interested in cutting the billionaire's -- and his -- taxes.
Maybe the Chinese will loan us the money to rebuild.
1
“Suffer the little children to come to Me” should be a required place card put in front of every company, institution or person who tries to hire her expecting to get a political or financial “bump!”
Of course she'll find a good job with great pay and great health insurance to boot.
Why?
Republican still like her.
Here's what Joni Ernst had to say:
"I thought that Nielsen was doing a fantastic job."
A fantastic job. Separating children from their parents. A fantastic job.
Let's hope that quote comes back to haunt the junior Senator from Iowa.
For more Republican praise of Nielsen:
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/08/trump-hill-dhs-1262097
1
Documents released recently show that Kirstjen Nielsen approved the policy of incarcerating children before it was implemented and then worked diligently to carry it out. She then, of course, lied about the policy and her role in officially supporting it.
https://www.pogo.org/press/release/2018/new-documents-show-nielsen-signed-off-on-family-separation-policy/
Thank you Nimbus. A slogan for the next campaign: NOT MY PRESIDENT!
1
In 1964, or so, when I was 4 years old in Communist Czechoslovakia, one of the things that I learned from my mom was that even then parents and children were being reunited from separation of parents and children under the Nazi regime a number of years prior. My family was not subjected to this. But, the memory of hearing about such, has lasted with me. It breaks my hearth now that my country will endure this same or similar fate, for years to come. And, that my president should speak the words, that this country is full, and no more asylum seekers should be granted access, is shameful and contrary to the laws of this Nation. Shame, shame, shame.
1
It would be a good idea if you used one of your future columns to identify all the alumni of the Trump administration and where they are today, Then we would know who to boycott.
Rick Wilson is right: Everything Trump touches, dies.
Next up: Stephen Miller.
1
She might get a job at Fox News as special guest about immigration. I mean there are a lot of American places that does not care about ethics or correctness. Also she can make money with speeches on campuses and abroad.
In America there is a dehumanizing history of separating children from their families. It was called slavery. Millions were bought and sold with the same moral degeneracy of the current administration. The fact that this is happening in 2019 is an abomination. The fact that it is being carried out by the supposed party of "family values" is base hypocrisy. I hope this woman is haunted for the rest of her life. The harm and trauma she inflicted upon innocents is incalculable.
1
Well, Kirstjen went to the University of Virginia Law School. I guess by the time by the time she went they had discontinued courses in ethics and law and equity.
I'm reminded of a scene in Judgement at Nuremberg when the learned judge Burt Lancaster who has sterilized and killed mental disturbed people says "....we who know our guilt must admit it... whatever the pain and humiliation."
Her "acting" replacement Kevin went to the University of Chicago Law School. I don't know if they taught ethics and law and equity there. But his comment that he enforces the law, he doesn't make it, ain't gonna cut it.
Nope, you can't cancel her.
But I do tire of only hearing about the children. What is happening to them is horrible, or, maybe the right word is deplorable. But adults in cages aren't any happier.
We're just short of 50,000.
Trump did not start the slow pattern of building up, he's just got the most vile heart and mouth. It's been a steady climb, administration after administration, since Clinton.
American concentration camps.
WE NEED:
Many more judges. Many more translators, many attorneys, legal aids. Legal and humanitarian aid inside the camps.
Imagine the terror of the parent whose child has been ripped from them and who do not know where they have been sent or how long they or or their children will be caged and why, of not even knowing where you are, and with no one to explain to you.
The minds of adults can be ruined by cruelty, as much as can children.
We need to focus on this. The administration is trying to get money to hold more prisoners. Change the conversation to judges.
Upon processing, these human beings will allowed into the country, or refused.
There will be new battles to fight at that time,
But in either case they will not be in an American concentration camp any more.
It's going to get worse before if ever it gets better again…
I'm sure future employment for her is a non issue. I am however appalled that you believe it's OK to threaten someone's livelihood. Your commentary in this article truly demonstrates why conservatives view liberals as self centered, egotistical, drama queens lacking respect for the views other than their own. I truly hope you have a safe zone where you can unwind and vent this level of hatred towards others. We should all take a moment and pray that you find professional help, as the anger you have shown is truly unhealthy.
"Nielsen did not create Trump’s monstrous policy of separating migrant families..."
No, that would be Jeff Sessions.
This woman is an example why people should think twice about gender categorizations.
A person I have a hard time associating with being human, let alone bring male or female.
She disgusts me in her intolerance, inhumanity, incapacity to feel other human being’s pain.
Little difference between Trump and her.
As a nation we have a lot to atone for.
We have not learned.
We destroyed the natives of the land we savagely colonized.
We had slaves until they were no longer economical.
We did not save Jews from the clutches of madmen and sadists. A tiny fraction we saved I discount with all due respect.
What is happening now in our vast and wealthy country is nothing new.
I worry about all this before I worry about special effects.
So, Michelle, how do you square your allegation of "terrorizing children" with the fact that under Obama over 70K parents sent their children, unaccompanied, to our country? Were those children "terrorized" by their own parents?
Separation is not a real issue except for those who insist on open borders.
2
Thank you Michelle. It is impossible to keep up and process all the insanity coming out of Washington. This administration needs to be taken down somehow.
Responsibility goes to the top. Make the Buffoon pay most of all, and yes, the rest who supported him deserve punishment as well. But alas, the list is much too big. It includes nearly the entire Republican Party, and even the entire Republican Party since those who say they do not support the Buffoon had an obligation to change parties by now, but they did not! Then there are the 90% of Republican voters who continue to support the Buffoon. That's too many people to punish.
I'm at a loss for ideas except to say that I think America's extreme capitalism has exacerbated all the negative qualities in its people, and now the US has the most vicious, inhumane and ugly population on planet Earth! The Republican Party and its relentless embrace of extreme capitalism and using hate, racism and bigotry to fire up the base has converted America into the Great Satan. The world's Evil Empire!
Capitalism is anti-human, anti-democratic and vicious. It is destroying the environment and the planet. It has destroyed America. The Buffoon is just the icon of the Evil Empire and all its destruction!
1
Oh, no. They should scream at her in restaurants, too.
Per Wikipedia:"John Choon Yoo is a Korean-American attorney, law professor, former government official, and author. Yoo is currently the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley." This ghoul authored the Torture Memos. Students attempting to harass him were censured. As far as I know he has been protected from any consequences for his heinous and inhuman complicity in the torture of thousands.This makes me choke on impotent rage. Yes we marchers and sign-wavers are worn out . Where is international justice for people like Yoo or Nielsen? They and the administrations they served deserve prosecution for crimes against humanity. Where do we turn for justice? I'm with Goldberg in spirit, but I sadly expect Nielsen will be "Madame Secretary " from here on out and never face her own malignancy.
Which is the worse witch: the witch which was, the witch which will be, the witch which switches the witches, or all the other witches which watch the witch-switching witch and the ongoing witch switching without wishing the witch-switching witch out?
1
While we are busy making a pariah of Ms. Nielsen, whom I’m no fan of, can we spare just a little bit of time for you too Ms. Goldberg? For after all, you led a charge to banish Al Franken from the senate, before any due process, and in so doing, took away one of the men most likely to beat this current abomination in the White House.
Never forget.
3
Call me old fashioned but either we punish people when they do inhumane things or we move on. And while I'm being old fashioned, her appearance alone guaranties Ms. Neilsen will land on her feet.
Nielsen was brutal but more tragically Nielsen was sacked for NOT being brutal enough -- let's think about that. If it is impossible to temper the brutality then we can forget about canceling it. We can congratulate our selves by asking to "cancel Nielsen" but when history is written she might be seen as more of a hero than a villain. Incredibly under her watch more lives might have been spared than were after she left. That is truly frightening.
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Ms. Nielsen has no children, but she does have nieces and nephews. I wonder what her siblings think of this sister and her monstrous actions, allowing children to be separated from their parents, and whose policies were at least partially responsible for the deaths of two of them.
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I support everything Michelle Goldberg says here and more.
For me the "more" involves canceling the ambiguity and hesitancy - please refer to the policies resulting in family separations as crimes against humanity, which is what they are.
Permanent pariah status is the very least Nielsen, Miller, Trump and everyone else involved with this has earned. What kind of loathsome "ideological" and psychological mechanisms could possibly permit anyone to rationalize these actions?
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What happens to Kirstjen Nielsen will be a lesson to those still in the Trump cabinet. If she gets away with this, they will be emboldened. If she is shunned, it might make current or future Trump officials think twice.
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I am no fan of Trump. Nor likely of Nielsen. But this public pillorying is distasteful. Who knows? Maybe we should be honoring her for being sacked. Perhaps she ulimtately did push back---does anyone even know? Maybe she did have a crisis of conscience about the whole business. ...but no, in order to write a quick Opinion piece, your position must be clear (like ill-fitting spacesuits...which was later found to be a technical reason).
But, in any case, to call, or label, someone a "permanent pariah..." what does that even mean? banishment? death? Someone who has a family, a life, has committed no crime that we know of....I am very uncomfortable with our public square. Then they came for me.... (again, no fan of trump here, but some decency please).
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@Founding Fathers
She was the spokesperson for something profoundly indecent. Where does institutionalized child abuse rank in the grand scheme of moral reasoning?
What would you suggest we do to people who have committed a grave moral harm on another under the guise of "just doing my job?" She pushed back after the courts found it illegal. She should not be lauded as a hero because she chose to push back at this point.
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@Founding Fathers
Nielsen had every opportunity to push back FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE POLICY FOR SEPARATING FAMILIES. She chose to enforce the policy then lie repeatedly when asked about the policy. Call me cruel, but I'm not letting her off so easily for enforcing such a cruel policy and ensuring trauma for thousands of children. The crisis of conscience should have occurred from the beginning, when she should have understood how cruel it was. I've thought for a while that what she and the administration were doing were crimes against humanity and should be reportable to the Hague.
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@Founding Fathers
"But, in any case, to call, or label, someone a "permanent pariah..." what does that even mean? banishment? death?"
The column is very clear in what it is calling for. Maybe read it again. Goldberg calls for her not to profit from her misdeeds, and not to gain a prestigious and comfortable position in academia or the corporate world.
Let's stay calm here, no one is calling for anyone's death or banishment.
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For me, one of the most striking recurring themes of the past few decades has been watching Republicans learn how to first accept and then enthusiastically support the morally indefensible.
In the 1970s and 1980s, it was Kissinger and Reagan helping the South American death squads. In the 1990s, Gingrich teaching Republican candidates how to choose just the right names to call their adversaries. In the 2000s, Bush's return to medieval torture. In 2008, Sarah Palin's insults. In the 2016 election, Trump's abuse of judges and disabled people and Mexicans and Muslims.
Time after time, Republicans hesitated at the threshold, and then went all in on degrading our country.
A year ago, the caging of children bothered them. Not so much anymore, and when Trump cancels his executive order and starts doing it again, you won't hear a peep from them. Where will they stop? What won't they justify? Their worldview will now allow them to rationalize anything. Just wait and see.
804
@Bill Camarda Well said!
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@Bill Camarda
Aren't we exactly where Germans were before Hitler and his evil enablers were just as he was rising to power?
Just like then, little by little the boundaries of decency and justice were pushed back till horrific and unthinkable behaviors became the norm.
100 years ago people laughed at that funny little housepainter spouting nonsense.In 2016 we were laughing at Trump. He's less funny every day.
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@Butterfly
Exactly. The camps didn't spring up overnight. There was a long desensitizing process.
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Despicable as Nielsen’s actions were, she should not be singled out for ostracism—unless Jeff Sessions, Steven Miller, John Kelley, Sarah Sanders, Trump himself, Sean Hannity, the cast of Fox and Friends, and everyone who put the policy in place and defended it are also ostracized. Once we start down the road of ostracism, the list of shunned people would quickly become very, very long. Unfortunately, it is probably best to allow Nielsen to joint the ranks of the bankers who were not prosecuted for the 2008 economic crisis, and the advocates of the 2003 Iraq invasion who are not only not in jail but in many cases on TV pontificating. In that long list of people, Nielsen is bad but not the worst of the worst. Bad as the things she did were, imagine the things she refused to do that got her fired.
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@Mike Collins
In re to: "she should not be singled out for ostracism—unless Jeff Sessions, Steven Miller, John Kelley, Sarah Sanders, Trump himself, Sean Hannity, the cast of Fox and Friends, and everyone who put the policy in place and defended it are also ostracized."
That's reasonable. I would go along with making permanent pariahs of them all. Let's do it.
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@Mike Collins "Despicable as Nielsen’s actions were, she should not be singled out for ostracism—unless Jeff Sessions, Steven Miller, John Kelley, Sarah Sanders, Trump himself, Sean Hannity, the cast of Fox and Friends, and everyone who put the policy in place and defended it are also ostracized." Fine -- let's ostracize them, too. I have no problem with that.
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@Mike Collins
Seems quite the list you have there--Trump not returning for a second term? Better check what's trotting about in the DNC Politburo corral. Sanders Socialism or Harris' destroy ICE, to name but two. Good luck with either.
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