Kirstjen Nielsen Defends Family Separation as Deterrent, Later Denies Policy Exists

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen explicitly acknowledged in a May 10, 2018 NPR interview that the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy would necessarily separate families, defending the practice as equivalent to standard law enforcement. Yet within weeks, Nielsen would falsely deny the policy existed, even as thousands of children were being torn from their parents at the border.

The May 10 NPR Interview: Explicit Acknowledgment

During the interview, Nielsen made clear that family separation was an operational certainty under zero tolerance enforcement: “Operationally what that means is we will have to separate your family. That’s no different than what we do every day in every part of the United States when an adult of a family commits a crime.”

She elaborated on this comparison to domestic criminal justice: “If you as a parent break into a house, you will be incarcerated by police and thereby separated from your family. We’re doing the same thing at the border.”

Nielsen argued that asylum seekers should not receive different treatment: “Illegal aliens should not get just different rights because they happen to be illegal aliens.” This framing deliberately ignored that seeking asylum is a legal right under U.S. and international law, and that most separated families were presenting themselves at ports of entry to request protection, not “breaking into” the country.

“We Will Not Apologize” - June 18, 2018

As public outrage mounted over images of children in cages and audio of toddlers crying for their parents, Nielsen doubled down on her defense. Speaking to the National Sheriffs’ Association convention in New Orleans on June 18, she defiantly declared: “We will not apologize for the job we do, for the job law enforcement does and for the job the American people expect us to do.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speaking at the same event, explicitly framed family separation as deterrence: “Because we send a message, a bad message to those crossing illegally if you bring children you can avoid prosecution and deportation.”

Nielsen characterized the policy as unavoidable law enforcement, claiming there were only two options: release families or prosecute parents with resulting separations. This false binary ignored the previous policy of releasing families with ankle monitors while they awaited immigration hearings—an approach with high compliance rates that the Trump administration deliberately abandoned.

The Denials Begin: “We Do Not Have a Policy”

Despite her explicit May 10 acknowledgment, Nielsen began denying the policy’s existence as criticism intensified:

• May 15: Under questioning by Sen. Kamala Harris, Nielsen testified “We do not have a policy to separate children from their parents.”

• June 17: Nielsen tweeted “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.”

• June 18: The same day as her “we will not apologize” remarks, Nielsen claimed “this administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border.”

This gaslighting continued even as 1,995 children had been separated in the six weeks following Sessions’ April 6 order, with the number eventually exceeding 5,500 documented separations.

The Orwellian Doublethink

Nielsen’s contradictory statements revealed the administration’s deliberate strategy of implementing cruel policies while denying responsibility. She simultaneously:

1. Defended family separation as necessary law enforcement
2. Denied that family separation was happening as policy
3. Blamed Democrats and “loopholes” for forcing the administration’s hand
4. Claimed to be merely enforcing existing law (which was false—the zero-tolerance policy was new)

Even after leaving office, Nielsen continued denying reality. In August 2020, she claimed “there was no policy to separate families,” contradicting her own documented statements and the experiences of thousands of traumatized families.

Historical Significance

Nielsen’s role as the public face of family separation—and her willingness to both implement and then deny the policy—exemplified the Trump administration’s authoritarian playbook: implement cruel policies, defend them as necessary, then deny they exist while they continue.

Her defiant “we will not apologize” stance, followed immediately by denials that the policy existed, demonstrated the administration’s contempt for both truth and basic human rights. The family separation policy would become one of the most internationally condemned actions in modern U.S. history, with the UN calling it “government-sanctioned child abuse” and medical professionals documenting trauma equivalent to torture.