Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will likely be remembered for overseeing family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
On Sunday, April 7, Kirstjen Nielsen resigned as the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Her resignation marks the end of a highly contested tenure during which people from both sides of the political spectrum expressed their discontent with her performance. Liberals ardently opposed Nielsen’s treatment of families trying to immigrate to the United States from the southern border, while conservatives felt Secretary Nielsen was not doing enough to secure the southern border. With such widespread opposition, you’d think Nielsen’s departure would be a call for celebration. However, when viewed in the context of actions currently being taken by the Trump administration, it is clear that Nielsen’s resignation is a double-edged sword.
Nielsen’s time as homeland security secretary symbolized the decline of an already-broken immigration system in the United States. Nielsen’s legacy will no doubt be characterized by her fervent support of President Donald J. Trump P’00’s “zero tolerance” policy against illegal immigration. This support led to many morally reprehensible actions and policies on Nielsen’s behalf — most notably, the separation of parents and their children at the southern border. Her zero tolerance policies even led to fatalities. According to ABC News, “more than 260 migrants died trying to cross the U.S. southern border” in just the first twelve months of Nielsen’s tenure. The U.S., evidently, is now a country that both brags of equality and inclusivity as it rejects some of those who need its comforts most.
That being said, Nielsen’s resignation will, one hopes, signal the end of the zero tolerance policy at the southern border, which will ultimately benefit the American people by allowing the government to establish more comprehensive immigration reform. And yet, instead of allowing for more lenient treatment of migrants at the border, President Trump is seemingly working to double down on his harsh immigration policies.
On April 5, two days before Nielsen resigned, Trump suddenly withdrew his nomination of Ronald Vitiello to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He explained that he wanted to take ICE in a “tougher” direction. This move suggests that he hopes to take the Department of Homeland Security in this direction, too. Trump will most likely seize Nielsen’s resignation as an opportunity to replace her with a homeland security secretary that is even tougher on immigration. No good can come from a policy that is designed to be “tougher” than the one that killed more than 200 people in one year.
Whoever Trump nominates to replace Nielsen will likely and wholeheartedly support the president’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border. As he grows frustrated with the situation at the border, Trump is no doubt also looking for someone who will have no qualms about taking drastic actions, such as shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border completely, as Trump has threatened to do.
When the president nominated Kirstjen Nielsen to be the Secretary of Homeland Security, he put the American people in a lose-lose situation. If Nielsen did not eventually resign, Americans would be stuck for four years with a homeland security secretary in favor of inhumane tactics. But now that she has resigned, Americans will most likely have to tolerate an even more detrimental nominee. As much as I would like to celebrate Nielsen’s resignation from the Department of Homeland Security, I fear it only foreshadows something much more dangerous.
