House Democrats next month will get their first chance to grill Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about President Trump’s immigration policy, which they say has resulted in the imprisonment of children in the U.S illegally.
“Secretary Nielsen has agreed to come before the Committee on Homeland Security to testify on March 6th. We are giving the Secretary ample time to prepare for this appearance. She should be ready to defend the Administration’s border security actions and its plans to improve its border security agenda going forward,” House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement Monday.
Thompson first asked Nielsen to face the Democrat-controlled panel on Jan. 4. At the time, Thompson said her return was “long overdue,” as she appeared before the House committee just once since being confirmed by the Senate in December 2017.
But Thompson’s request was ignored by DHS, prompting the top Republican in the committee to get involved and try to wrangle a deal between the two.
Ranking member Mike Rogers of Alabama said he helped broker a deal and determined everyone could meet in early March.
“Chairman Thompson’s decision to cooperate with Secretary Nielsen to find a time for her to testify was the right one and is consistent with the committee’s constitutional mandate to conduct oversight over DHS,” Rogers said in a statement Monday.
The last time Nielsen testified in any committee’s oversight hearing of DHS was before the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee in December.
Adam Comis, spokesman for Thompson, said the March hearing will focus on “border security” issues.
In his January letter, Thompson had asked Nielsen to provide documents related to the costs and plans for additional border wall; limitations on the number of asylum seekers allowed to make claims at ports of entry; strategy for handling families who have illegally entered the country; and its policies for handling children, including anything related to the two Guatemalan children who died in federal custody last month.
