DHS chief: Dem child-abuse claim 'cowardly'

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sharply criticized Democratic lawmakers who contend the Trump administration is using illegal immigrant children as a "leverage" to force Congress to overhaul the immigration system and build a border wall.

She was asked at the White House press briefing Monday what she would say to Democrats making the accusation.

"I'd say that is a very cowardly response," she said. "It is within their power to make the laws and change the laws, and they should do so."

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The administration contends it is bound by law, a 2016 court consent decree known as the Flores settlement, which requires that unaccompanied children be held by the government for only 20 days.

Critics insist DHS has discretion regarding the separation of families, with some labeling the new "zero-tolerance" immigration policy referring all illegal entries to the Justice Department a form of child abuse.

Trump officials argue that children become separated when families enter the country illegally and then seek asylum to extend their stay. They enter the country knowing children can be held only 20 days. Because asylum petitions require more than 20 days to process, the government must either release the adults and children together or hold the adults and release the children. Experience has shown that adult illegal immigrants released while their claim is pending usually don't show up for their hearings.

Another reporter asked Nielsen if she had seen the photos circulating of children in cages -- one such viral photo has been debunked -- and audio clips of children "wailing," which were released Monday.

Nielsen said she hadn't heard the recordings, and in a follow-up was asked if that is the "image of children that you want out there."

"The image I want of this country is of an immigration system secures that our borders and upholds our humanitarian ideals," she replied. "Congress needs to fix it."

Another reporter noted former first lady Laura Bush compared the separation of the illegal-alien families to the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, and current first lady Melania Trump also has expressed concern about the issue.

"Calling attention to this matter is very important," Nielsen said. "This is a very serious issue that has resulted after years and years of Congress not taking action. So, I would thank them both for their comments, I would thank them both for their concerns -- I share their concerns -- but Congress is the one that needs to fix this."

Another reporter asked, how is the family separation "not child abuse"?

"The vast, vast majority of children who are in the care of HHS (Health and Human Services) -- 10,000 of the 12,000 now -- were sent here alone by their parents. That's when they were separated," she said.

"So, somehow we've conflated everything. Those are two separate issues. Ten thousand of those currently in custody were sent by their parents, with strangers, to undertake a completely dangerous and deadly travel alone," said Nielsen.

"We now care for them. We have high standards. We give them meals. We give them medication. We give them medical care. There are videos, there are TVs," she said, noting she has visited the centers herself.

New policy?

One reporter claimed that the separations began only after the administration launched it's zero-tolerance policy.

"That's actually not true," Nielsen said.

The Obama and Bush administrations separated families, she noted.

"They absolutely did."

She acknowledged that the separations occurred at a lower rate during previous administrations, but insisted, "This is not new."

Nielsen was asked why Trump hasn't shown compassion toward the separated illegal-alien children and why he doesn't pause the separations while Congress works on a fix.

"He has been attempting to work with Congress since he's been in office," she replied. "He's made it very clear that we will enforce the laws of the United States as long as he is here."

Nielsen said Trump "has continually reached out to Congress to fix this, and I think what you've seen him do in the last few days is that."

She emphasized that the only people who benefit from the system now are the drug smugglers, human traffickers and terrorists.

How to keep families together

Nielsen said that if Congress closes the loopholes in the law that make separating children from the parents necessary, "we can keep families together."

She noted families were kept together during the Obama administration only until a court ruled that both accompanied and unaccompanied children must be released after 20 days.

That means, she said, that "we can't detain families together."

"Our only option is to not enforce the law."

Asked again whether the administration is using the children as pawns for policy purposes, Nielsen shot back that the ones using children for pawns are the the smugglers and traffickers.

She cited a 314 percent increase in adults showing up with children who are not part of their family.

"Those are traffickers, those are smugglers, those are MS 13 (gang members), those are criminals, those are abusers," she said.

"Closing that loophole will enable us to detain families together, throughout the proceeding, as they've done in previous administrations."

Pressed again, she was asked if she could say "definitively" that the children are not being "used as a pawn" to get Congress to support the border wall.

"The children are not being used as a pawn," she said. "We are trying to protect the children, which is why I am asking congress to act."

She was asked again about the photos and recordings of crying children and asked if they were an intended or unintended consequence of administration policy.

"I think that they reflect the focus of those who post such pictures and narratives. The narratives we don't see are the narratives of the crime, of the opiods, of the smugglers, of people who are killed by gang members. American children who are recruited and then when they lose the drugs they are tased and beaten.

"We don't have a balanced view of what is happening," she said.

The border is "being overrun by those who have no right to cross it."

She urged people who are seeking asylum go to a port of entry.

"You do not need to break the laws of the United States to seek asylum."