DHS Chief Nielsen Fired By Tweet
Homeland Security chief Nielsen is out. Politico: "Kirstjen Nielsen will leave her post as secretary of Homeland Security, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, highlighting the administration's inner turmoil over rising levels of illegal immigration just days after the president backed off a threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border. The number of migrants arrested at the border in recent months — a proxy for illegal crossings — has increased to the highest levels in more than a decade. Under Nielsen’s watch, the administration experimented with a range of policies to deter migrants, only to see border arrests continue to rise. The news comes after the White House on Friday unexpectedly pulled the nomination of Ronald Vitiello to become director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vitiello, a longtime Border Patrol official, had already been approved by one congressional committee, but still need the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate confirmation. Trump said Friday that his administration sought to 'go in a tougher direction' with the ICE role, but the White House has not announced a new nominee."
Hardliner Miller Seeks Control Of Immigration
Before Nielsen's abrupt resignation, hardline Trump adviser Stephen Miller was reportedly handed total control of border policy. Insider: "US border and immigration policy is now said to be under the control of one of the most hardline anti-immigration members of the Trump administration, following the weekend's abrupt resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. On Sunday, Politico reported that the White House adviser Stephen Miller was behind a government-wide bid to tighten migration policy. The site said he lobbied for the replacement of government officials with those who share his views and telephoned mid-ranking officials at several government departments to angrily demand that they do more the halt the illegal movement of migrants into the country. CBS News also reported that Miller was behind a planned overhaul of the Department of Homeland Security, where President Trump reportedly didn't believe the outgoing Nielsen shared his anti-migration stance."
DOJ Admits As Many As 47,000 Migrant Children Taken From Families
"The long-term damage of Trump’s war on immigrants. NYMag: "On Friday, the Trump administration revealed that it may need up to two more years to identify thousands of migrant children who may have been separated from their families at the southern border. The depressing acknowledgement, made a full year after the separation policy was originally announced, underlines the long-term impact of one of the Trump administration’s most shameful acts. It also demonstrates how ill-equipped the government is when it comes to dealing with the consequences of Trump’s reckless war on immigrants. In a Friday night court filing, the Justice Department claimed it would need at least a year, and as much as two years, to analyze the roughly 47,000 cases of unaccompanied minors taken into federal custody from July 2017 to June 2018, when U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered both an end to the separations, and that the children be reunited with their families."
FL Lawmakers Denied Acess To Migrant Detention
3 Florida congresswomen denied access to largest child detention center in U.S. Axios: "Florida Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell were verbally denied access into the Homestead temporary shelter for unaccompanied migrant children last Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Miami Herald reports. The congresswomen say HHS is in violation of a law passed last year that says members of Congress can’t be prevented from entering "any U.S. facility used for maintaining custody of or otherwise housing unaccompanied alien children" for oversight purposes. HHS said they require a two-week visit notification from visitors. The for-profit Homestead facility, owned by Comprehensive Health Services, is the largest shelter for migrant children in the country, as reported by NPR. Thousands of migrant youth allegedly suffered sexual abuse in U.S. custody."
Disaster Funding Stalled By GOP Refusal To Aid Puerto Rico
House Dems look to end months-old stalemate over disaster funds. Politico: "With a disaster relief bill deadlocked in the Senate, House Democrats are prepared to move ahead with their own package that includes billions of dollars in aid for the rain-swollen Midwest. The Democrats’ revised bill would add $2.5 billion for heartland states reeling from catastrophic floods, an overture to Republicans after months of partisan bickering. But the new version is unlikely to advance in the Senate because it includes the same contentious pot of money for Puerto Rico, which has been among the GOP’s chief criticisms against the bill. 'House Democrats have been clear that we support a comprehensive emergency supplemental to meet the needs of all Americans affected by natural disasters,' Evan Hollander, spokesman for House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), said on Sunday. 'If Senate Republicans fail to advance legislation this week, we are prepared to introduce a new bill that builds on our already passed legislation and broadens assistance to the people of the Midwest,' Hollander said."
