The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President’s Homeland Security nominee sails through hearing
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security cruised through her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, easily fielding questions on an array of security issues while making no stumbles or gaffes.
Kirstjen M. Nielsen, 45, the White House deputy chief of staff, was challenged on several topics by Democratic members of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, but her hearing produced no controversies that might jeopardize a swift confirmation.
Handpicked for the job by John F. Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, Nielsen would be the first DHS secretary with previous experience working at the agency, a bureaucratic behemoth of 240,000 employees and a $40 billion annual budget.
Her familiarity with DHS’s 22 sub-agencies, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Customs and Border Protection, was not in doubt during the hearing, as she parried questions on airport security, extremist violence, immigration and how to stop opioids sent through the mail from China.
Asked if she would be capable of standing up to the White House, Nielsen told lawmakers she would not hesitate to challenge Trump if asked to do something “in violation of the law.” When Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., sought her views on Trump’s plans for a wall along the Mexico border, Nielsen echoed Kelly’s assessment, telling the panel: “There is no need for a wall from sea to shining sea.”
Hard-line conservatives, including author Ann Coulter, seized on those remarks and attacked Nielsen online, but she got mostly softballs from Republican senators Wednesday, many of whom addressed her as if she were already in charge of DHS.
Sen. Kamala D. Harris, D-Calif., one of the Trump administration’s fiercest critics, pressed Nielsen on her plans for immigration enforcement, asking her what she would do if Congress fails to legalize the nearly 700,000 “Dreamers” whose protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will expire next year.
Nielsen told her if Congress failed to act, DACA recipients would not be an enforcement priority for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and said DHS would not use their personal information to track down and deport them.
Conservative proponents of tougher immigration policies expressed disappointment with Nielsen’s response.
Some of the toughest questions Nielsen faced were from Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., who criticized Nielsen’s lack of high-level management experience. “Why should we believe, as smart as you are, having never led organization of more than 100 people, that you are ready to take on a responsibility this large, now?”
Carper and other Democrats also bristled when Nielsen refused to say human activity was the primary cause of climate change.