Four members of a Department of Homeland Security advisory council resigned last week, calling the Trump administration's immigration policies "morally repugnant." But one of the now-former employees also sent DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen a personalized resignation letter, going even further in her caustic criticism.
"DHS has been transformed into an agency that is making war on immigrants and refugees," wrote Elizabeth Holtzman, a former Democratic congresswoman who was a co-author of the 1980 Refugee Act. She condemned the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, the lack of support for DREAMers, and the "zero tolerance" policy that prosecutes any and all migrant crossing the border without authorization as "malign and ultimately self-destructive policies."
"The final straw has been the separation of children from their parents at the Southwest border," she continued. "This is child kidnapping, plain and simple." Holtzman also told Slate on Tuesday that the administration took a "much more punitive, cruel, vicious, heartless, ruthless, and harmful" approach to immigration policies. She said she'd like to "see this president out of office," and had a similar message for her former boss.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Although it is I who am resigning in protest against these policies," she wrote to Nielsen, "it is you who should be resigning."
-
August 31 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include FEMA's new scheme, Gavin Newsom's antics, and a clue in the Epstein files
-
Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky missionTalking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogsThe Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
