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President Donald Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, is leaving his post due to tensions with the administration.
Wochit, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
The Democrats' response to Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation Sunday as Secretary of Homeland Security has been very tough.
They questioned his direction. They criticized his "cruel" application of President Donald Trump's immigration policy. They welcomed his departure.
They also acknowledged that Nielsen's resignation would not change Trump's efforts to face his national declaration of urgency on the southern border of the country.
"It is deeply alarming that the head of the Trump administration who put the children in cages is about to resign because it is not extreme enough to please the White House," said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in a statement. "The President's cruel and cruel policies against immigrants have only worsened humanitarian suffering at the border and inflicted immense suffering on the families who were torn apart."
The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, echoed Pelosi: "When the most radical voices of the administration are not radical enough for President Trump, you know he has completely lost touch with the American people "said the New York Senator in a statement.
More: Reducing Aid and Closing Ports: Here's What's Happening on the Southern Border
Four Democratic presidential candidates of 2020 have sounded on Twitter, using Nielsen's resignation as an additional opportunity to criticize his defense of the Trump government's zero tolerance immigration policy in 2018 that had led to the separation of more 2,500 children of their parents who had crossed the border illegally.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said, "About the time," "Nielsen's legacy of tearing innocent families will follow her all her life – and she should be ashamed of the role she played" .
"Kirstjen Nielsen misled the American people and defended Trump's inhuman policy of separating children from their parents," said California Senator Kamala Harris. "It was high time she left."
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro called Nielsen "a volunteer partner in the cruelest and most cruel immigration program in decades," and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand criticized Nielsen's support for "inhumane treatment of immigrant families by the administration". for "a moral turnaround on immigration policies".
Gillibrand, however, lamented: "We will not get it in this administration."
While describing Nielsen's 16-month-old DHS secretary mission as a "disaster from the start," Mississippi representative Bennie Thompson also stressed that she could not "serve as a scapegoat".
In a statement, Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security committee, said, "Let's be clear: President Trump is to blame for aggravating the situation at the border. His terrible and cruel policies have shattered families and sowed chaos in our immigration system. This is now obvious.
The departure of Nielsen comes as the influx of migrants has overwhelmed US immigration in recent months, which has led Trump to threaten to close the border with Mexico and cut aid to Central American countries that migrants continue to flee.
"Overwhelming" numbers: It may take two years to identify thousands of migrant children separated from their families
According to CBP data, border police officers apprehended 66,450 people illegally crossing the southern border, including 36,174 family members and 6,825 unaccompanied minors.
Just last week, Nielsen compared the situation at the border to a "massive disaster caused by a Category 5 hurricane" during an interview with Fox News.
His efforts to support the Trump administration drew the praise of some Republican lawmakers Sunday night.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Nielsen's service "to the administration and to the American people".
"From natural disasters to cybersecurity threats, the Department of Homeland Security protects Americans on countless fronts – including, of course, the front lines of the security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border," he said. the senator from Kentucky.
"Secretary Nielsen has served her country honorably as Secretary of Homeland Security, despite many hardships, including extremely difficult conditions on the southwestern border," said in a statement the representative of Alabama, Mike Rogers, Committee Member House Homeland Security Committee.
Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, via Twitter, thanked Nielsen "for his tireless work in honoring legal immigration and preventing people from using children as pawns of illegal immigration."
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