“We never purposefully put a child in a cage,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. Like you do when you just mistakenly caged some babies.
Why is Nielsen in the position of lying once again in public? Because She was testifying before a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “The Way Forward on Border Security” on Capitol Hill Wednesday, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman questioned her about whether or not migrant children at the Mexican border are being kept in cages.
Chairman Thompson asked Nielsen if we were still putting children in cages. Nielsen said a lot about how these detention centers weren’t meant for children, but they are put in them, and yada yada.
Thompson got irritated, like you do when you’re talking to someone who’s refusing to actually answer a question, and asked her for a yes or no answer, to which she replied that “To her knowledge” we, as in the Trump administration, had never purposefully put a child in a cage.
Video:
Here is DHS Sec, Kirstjen Nielsen proclaiming that the cages that migrant children are kept in by Trump . pic.twitter.com/ZthHVGw5v8
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 6, 2019
And by cage, she means a square box, which she demonstrated with her hands.
Just in case you might think a cage was something with fencing on it…. Like this:
So they didn’t do it on purpose, to her knowledge, but if they did, you know a fence does not a cage make. Can we discuss what a cage is? ‘Cuz apparently Nielsen is okay with kids in fencing.
Definition of cage: a structure of bars or wires in which birds or other animals are confined.
Yeah, that is what those kids are in- a structure. It need not be a “box.”
Then Nielson claimed that these caged sections of the border detention areas are not cages. Then she was asked what a chain link fence enclosing an area with a concrete floor represent to her, and she responded it’s a “detention space that has existed for decades.”
Detention space that is caged but is not a cage, per Trump administration:
“Is it different from cages you put your dogs in when you let them stay outside?”
Nielsen: “Yes, it’s larger, it has facilities, it provides room to sit, to stand, to lay down –”
“So does my dog’s cage,” an unimpressed Coleman responded.
As a general reminder, Nielsen has a bad track record on this issue. Well, on many issues.
Remember this other testimony, under oath before the House Judiciary Committee: “We’ve never had a policy for family separation.”
Well, that wasn’t true. NBC busted Nielsen and the entire Trump administration with a previously-undisclosed administration memo showing that the Trump administration weighed targeting migrant families, speeding up deportation of children and specifically targeting parents in migrant families for increased prosecutions.
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) formally asked the FBI to investigate Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for perjury.
So when Nielsen says they didn’t purposefully cage children, well. It’s worth the same as when Trump claims he is a stable genius. That is to say, nothing except probably the opposite.
The Democratic-led House passed a resolution to overturn Trump’s “national emergency” declaration to get funding for his unnecessary, impotent, and incompetent wall, and now it looks like there are enough Republican senators who just might sign on with Democrats to pass the resolution blocking the unconstitutional power grab. It will no doubt be vetoed by Trump.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators had a “spirited discussion” on the matter. Like you do when your party is the self-described party of “pro-life” and “family values.” Cuz, you know, a discussion would be warranted over caged babies. I mean, some people might disagree with this policy, so a spirited discussion could be had.
Let us have a “spirited discussion” about children in cages. What do you think? Good plan? Way to say the United States is the land of the free and yes, it’s legal to seek asylum or not?
No, this is not actually a Day in the Life of an Intellectually Challenged White Supremacist, but it does feel like it.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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