Donald Trumps purging of top leaders at the Department of Homeland Security illustrates just how extreme the presidents immigration policy has become.
Trump forced out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday. That followed his rescinding last week of his nomination of Ronald Vitiello to be director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying he wanted to go in a tougher direction. Then, on Monday, U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph Alles was ousted.
Theres more to come. L. Francis Cissna, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and John Mitnick, the departments general counsel and a senior member of Nielsens leadership team, will soon leave, too.
The timing couldnt be worse. If ever there was a time our country needed to compromise on immigration issues, this is it. But Trumps uninterested in compromise. Hes focused on separating families, building a wall and sealing the border with Mexico. The presidents promise of a border wall may have helped put him in the White House in 2016. But he has turned it into an irrational obsession.
And a costly one. The mindless effort to use the wall as a political bargaining chip in January led to the government shutdown, which cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
When Nielsen isnt tough enough for Trump, thats troubling. The Homeland Security secretary was widely known as the most aggressive person to hold the position. It was Nielsen who presided over the separation of thousands of families in 2018. But it was her refusal to reinstate the policy in recent weeks that led to her departure.
Nielsen, according to reports, asked for a meeting Sunday with Trump seeking a way forward on the border issue. But the president, who has been delivering the message to migrants to go back where you came from because were full, refused to budge.
The president should embrace the notion that we can both secure our borders without a 2,000-mile wall and still attract the best and brightest minds from around the world to further spur our economy. He needs to surround himself with people who understand that immigrants play a crucial role in supplying the workforce our country needs.
Trumps latest purge signals a deplorable shift away from Americas most treasured values.
