Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen's embarrassing surrender on separating families at the border

Jill Wine-Banks @JillWineBanks
17m17 minutes ago

Trump proved he lied about his nnot causing family separation problem.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/20/trump-and-kirstjen-nielsens-embarrassing-surrender-on-separating-families/ …

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The Fix Analysis
Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen’s embarrassing surrender on separating families at the border



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/20/trump-and-kirstjen-nielsens-embarrassing-surrender-on-separating-families/?utm_term=.4d7df575c641



by Aaron Blake June 20 at 12:33 PM

President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen repeatedly said only Congress could stop family separation at the border, through legislation. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

The Trump administration insisted it didn't have a policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. It said that it was merely following the law. And it said “Congress alone can fix” the mess.

It just admitted that all that was nonsense — and that it badly overplayed its hand.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who on Sunday and Monday insisted that this wasn't an actual policy and that the administration's hands are tied, will now have to untie them as the White House will reverse the supposedly nonexistent policy. Amid an outcry from Senate Republicans and an emerging promise to fix the problem themselves — just as the White House had demanded — the Trump administration has drafted an executive action to change the policy and keep families united.

It's at once an admission that the politics of the issue had gotten out of hand and that the administration's arguments were completely dishonest. Virtually everything it said about the policy is tossed aside with this executive action. It's the political equivalent of waving the white flag and the legal equivalent of confessing to making false statements. Rather than letting Congress rebuke it, the White House is rebuking itself and trying to save some face.


Even some Republicans were admitting the White House surrendered.

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The administration will argue that this is merely a stopgap decision that will still be subject to legal review. It will even cast doubt on the idea that the executive action will stand — instead arguing that it's worth halting the policy while the courts decide. But that's the opposite of the approach the administration had said was demanded by the situation for the past several days.

Here's a sampling:..................................


And Rep. Lieu is laying it on. he he:

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And this issue is NOT over:

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ALSO

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