Free Republic

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to leave a trendy Mexican restaurant in Washington, DC, Tuesday night when protesters descended on the eatery shouting “Shame!” Demonstrators occupied DXDC Cocina Mexicana at around 8 p.m. as Nielsen was attempting to have a meal with an unidentified man, according to a video posted on Facebook.

<p>Activists with the D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America crashed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's dinner Tuesday evening and appeared to chase her from the building.</p> <p>According to a Facebook Live video posted to DSA's Facebook page, protesters surrounded Nielsen's corner table at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, located just a few blocks from the White House.</p>

The White House said Friday that President Trump supports House legislation that closely tracks his priorities on border security and limiting legal immigration, walking back comments he made on national television rejecting the GOP bill. The reversal came after hours of confusion on Capitol Hill, where Trump’s words roiled an already fragile internal debate between conservative and moderate House Republicans who have been trying to find an immigration compromise after months of false starts. “The president fully supports both the Goodlatte bill and the House leadership bill,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said, referring to legislation drafted by House Judiciary...

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called on Congress to change laws she said force the government to separate immigrant children from parents who cross the U.S. border unlawfully and called Democrats who say the Trump administration is using the controversy for political leverage “very cowardly.” Nielsen both defended President Donald Trump’s family separation policy at a White House briefing on Monday and maintained that it wasn’t his creation, but rather a consequence of the government’s prosecution of immigrants apprehended illegally crossing the border. "So I want to be clear on a couple of other things," Nielsen said. "The vast majority,...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz announced emergency legislation Monday evening to keep immigrant families together after they cross the border into the United States. The legislation follows comments Cruz made on Saturday that essentially called for more resources to adjudicate asylum claims. He also called for keeping immigrant kids with their parents as long as those adults are not associated with criminal activity. "All Americans are rightly horrified by the images we are seeing on the news, children in tears pulled away from their mothers and fathers," Cruz wrote in a release. "This must stop. Now. We can end...

In recent days, we have seen reporters, Members of Congress, and other groups mislead the public on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) zero-tolerance policy. Federal law enforcement officers have sworn duties to enforce the laws that Congress passes. Repeating intentionally untrue and unsubstantiated statements about DHS agents, officers, and procedures is irresponsible and deeply disrespectful to the men and women who risk their lives every day to secure our border and enforce our laws. Myth DHS has a policy to separate families at the border. Fact DHS does not have a blanket policy of separating families at the border....

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers who had been trying to gain access to a holding center for undocumented immigrant children were given a tour Sunday starting with a Customs and Border Protection processing center in McAllen, Texas, as DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen declared in a rare tweetstorm that the kids aren't being separated from parents. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), calling the McAllen facility "the dog kennel," said he "witnessed loads of kids massed together in large pens of chain-linked fence separated from their moms and dads." He and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) then went to the McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge, where agents...

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen defended the Trump administration’s highly contentious “zero tolerance” immigration-enforcement policy Monday as the inevitable result of congressional inaction on immigration.“We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Nielsen said during her Monday address to National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans. “Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards.”Nielsen went on to decry inaccurate media portrayals of the Trump administration’s enforcement policy, which requires the detention and prosecution...

The Department of Homeland Security announced at 3:46 pm today [Friday] that it will allow various U.S. employers 15,000 additional H-2B workers this summer; they will do unskilled, non-agricultural seasonal work...The 15,000 will be in addition to the 66,000 permits in this program that have already been issued in keeping with the long-standing statutory ceiling.

Suddenly - May 1 - there was no more news of the storied caravan parked south of San Diego. All the googling in the world provides no answer. Nothing.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security entered into an agreement Friday aimed at stopping U.S. companies from favoring foreign workers with visas over U.S. workers, according to documents first obtained by the Washington Examiner. Justice and Homeland Security officials hope the tighter union, made official Friday through a memorandum of understanding, leads to quicker detection of U.S. employers who discriminate against U.S. workers, as well as quicker punishment for immigrants who abuse or commit fraud... Hiring "temporary foreign visa workers over available, qualified U.S. workers may be discriminating in violation" of U.S. law, documents detailing the joint agreement...

Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, told colleagues she was close to resigning after President Trump berated her on Wednesday in front of the entire cabinet for what he said was her failure to adequately secure the nation’s borders, according to several current and former officials familiar with the episode. Ms. Nielsen, who is a protégée of John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has drafted a resignation letter but has not submitted it, according to two of the people. As the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Ms. Nielsen is in charge of the 20,000 employees...

Call it what you want, but is this not a window into how far left Democrats have gone on immigration? Fighting illegal immigration is a philosophy? Well, that’s what Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a brief, but heated exchange with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who testified before the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday. Sen. Murray wanted to know if DHS was exploring alternative methods other than detention to save taxpayer dollars concerning pregnant women who are caught at the border. Nielsen said that they utilize ankle bracelets, but added that if a pick up repeat...

Call it what you want, but is this not a window into how far left Democrats have gone on immigration? Fighting illegal immigration is a philosophy? Well, that’s what Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a brief, but heated exchange with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who testified before the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday. Thank you @SenatorTester and @SenCapito for hosting me at the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee today to discuss @DHSgov budget and priorities, including the need for additional resources at the border. pic.twitter.com/cAQtspwtKr— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) May 8, 2018  Sen. Murray wanted to...

... Nielsen explained that no matter the method, the U.S. government will deport those caught in the United States illegally. Murray interrupted her, cutting in, “I know what your philosophy is.” “It’s not a philosophy!” Nielsen responded. “It’s a law Congress passed!” The Democratic senator continued on her tangent, calling for the end of detention of those who are caught illegally crossing into the United States.

MEXICALI, Mexico — About 175 people in a caravan of Central American asylum-seekers rested up Thursday ahead of the final leg of their monthlong journey to seek asylum in the United States, with the Trump administration warning they could be prosecuted, detained and quickly deported. The migrants — many of them women, children and transsexuals — were set to board buses in the border city of Mexicali for a two-hour drive to Tijuana to join up with about 175 others who already arrived. Lawyers planned free workshops on the U.S. immigration system on Friday and Saturday as many planned to...

The pro-migration ACLU is suing the Department of Homeland Security to help economic migrants use children to smuggle themselves into the United States. President Donald Trump’s DHS tries to detain all migrants pending their asylum hearing because it is easier to repatriate migrants homewards when they lose their hearing. The detention policy is also intended to prevent migrants from walking away and then disappearing into the United States, and also to deter future migration. When groups of migrants — the so-called “family units” of adults and children — appear at the border, DHS prioritizes its limited number of detention beds...

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions warned California on Wednesday that "there is no secession" from federal jurisdiction as he appeared before members of the California Peace Officers Assn. in Sacramento to announce a lawsuit against three so-called "sanctuary state" laws. To no one's surprise, his claims drew immediate rebukes from state officials. Gov. Jerry Brown's initial response after the suit was filed late Tuesday stands as one of the better jabs in this political fight: "At a time of unprecedented political turmoil, Jeff Sessions has come to California to further divide and polarize America. Jeff, these political stunts may be the...

American border officials cannot refuse to let in gang members who either sneak in or show up at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, government officials said Tuesday as they pleaded for congressional action to close loopholes gang members are exploiting. “When they come to our border I have to let them in,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said at a White House roundtable. “This is unique to our country, and it’s got to change,” President Trump chimed in. Mr. Trump has made highlighting and combatting MS-13 a major tenet of his immigration policy, and his aides bolstered his...

The Trump administration is waiving more than 30 environmental rules to accelerate the construction of President Trump's proposed border wall in New Mexico, forcing environmental groups to consider another round of lawsuits.The Department of Homeland Security published a notice Monday that said the waiver was necessary to ensure the "expeditious construction of barriers" near the Santa Teresa Land Port of Entry. "The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the...