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Trump Administration Seeking to Reimplement Controversial Border Policies [UPDATED]

Nielsen’s ouster is being viewed, in hindsight, as a way for the President to go nuclear on the border.

April 9, 2019

[UPDATE: The President has now denied that he is looking to reinstate family separation at the border, but also espoused its efficacy in a statement on Tuesday.]

Yesterday, in what for many was a shocking turn of events, the Department of Homeland Security got an unexpected overhaul.

This came in the form of the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen; a maneuver that wasn’t so much decided as it was forced. Now, according to the Trump Administration, border hawk and presidential adviser Stephen Miller will be running point on all-thing-immigration.

During the fallout from Nielsen’s departure, the reasoning became clear: The now-former Secretary wasn’t tough enough for President Trump, and believed that some of his stated objectives were unreachable or untenable.

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New information shows that this may have only been the tip of the iceberg.

President Donald Trump has been pushing to reinstate broader family separation policies and sought to close the US-Mexico border at El Paso, Texas, as his conflict with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reached a boiling point.

Three Thursdays ago, in a meeting at the Oval Office with top officials — including Nielsen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, top aides Jared Kushner, Mercedes Schlapp and Dan Scavino, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and more — the President, according to one attendee, was “ranting and raving, saying border security was his issue.”

Senior administration officials say that Trump then ordered Nielsen and Pompeo to shut down the port of El Paso the next day, Friday, March 22, at noon. The plan was that in subsequent days the Trump administration would shut down other ports.

It was at this point that Nielsen began to push back, and rightly so.

The policy of separating families at the border has been a nightmare from the start. Not only was it seen as cruel by a great swath of the American people, (to whom those in office technically report to), but now, even months later, there are thousands of migrants still separated from their families with no clear plan as to how best to reunite them.

If the President believes that sending Nielsen upriver will somehow make this policy acceptable in the eyes of Americans, he may be in for a surprise.

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