Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday she’s surprised by lawmakers who tell her they support shoring up the U.S.-Mexico border but refuse to fund President Trump’s proposed border wall because politics shouldn’t influence national security.
“They all say to me, ‘We’re in favor of border security.’ And yet when we try to work with them on legislation, it falls apart,” Nielsen told Fox News when asked about the Trump administration’s failure to secure congressional resources for the president’s signature campaign promise.
.@SecNielsen: “Border security is national security.” #SpecialReport pic.twitter.com/AjazXmHnrL
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 30, 2018
Nielsen, who’s been in the top job at the Department of Homeland Security since December, added she was stunned by the uproar over the decision to send National Guard troops to the border.
“I don’t know why it was controversial. We’ve done this twice before to much success,” she said.
Nielsen’s comments follow reports on April 8 that Trump threatened to pull his backing of her nomination to head DHS one week after announcing her selection for the post in October.
