Kirstjen Nielsen in A Very Stable Genius

On Immigration: Solution to asylum is closing legal loopholes

Nielsen had once been wary of Trump's 2018 decision to deploy troops to the southern border. By February 2019, however, Nielsen realized she desperately needed those troops--and even more of them--at the US-Mexico border to support the overwhelmed customs and immigration officials. Scores of migrant families, as well as some traffickers using children as decoys, were rushing the border claiming asylum. The number of migrants detained in February, 76,000, marked a 12-year high for illegal border crossings. The arrivals deluged US border agents.

Nilsen asked for a meeting with Trump in early March. Trump would not acknowledge Nielsen's consistent argument that the only real solution to immigrants seeking was thoughtful legislation to close legal loopholes. But Trump was angry and believed Nielsen should be doing much more. Nielsen tried to refocus the meeting on the impossibility of her agency shouldering the crush of migrants entering the country.

Source: A Very Stable Genius, by P.Rucker & C.Leonnig, p.371-2 Jan 21, 2020

The above quotations are from A Very Stable Genius Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig. Click here for other excerpts from A Very Stable Genius Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig. Click here for other excerpts by Kirstjen Nielsen. Click here for a profile of Kirstjen Nielsen.
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