“This is a crisis – pure and simple – and we need to respond accordingly,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen said Friday in a statement praising President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency at the U.S. southern border.
“I applaud the President’s decision to declare a national emergency. This is a crisis—pure and simple—and we need to respond accordingly. We cannot standby as our border security is further compromised and our immigration laws are exploited. Now is the time to act and to uphold our fundamental responsibility to our citizens and our nation to safeguard U.S. territory.”
Sec. Nielsen said that Congress has repeatedly failed – including in its current budget bill – to provide DHS with the funding and resources it needs to solve the border crisis, so she also supports Trump’s decision to “unlock additional funding for physical barriers” from the budgets of the Treasury and Defense departments:
“The legislation doesn’t provide everything we need, and it gets nowhere close to completely solving the serious humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. Time and again, Congress has failed to fully fund DHS to confront this situation and to handle the influx of aliens, drugs, and other illicit traffic into our country. That is why I strongly support the President’s decision to unlock additional funding for physical barriers, including resources from the Department of Treasury and the Department of Defense.”