Thread by @heidiraltman

Watching as DHS Secretary Nielsen testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee. Thank you @SenFeinstein for leading with a call to Nielsen to clarify that DHS will not separate families at the border, a policy that is "callous and stunningly un-American." judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/overs…

Secretary Nielsen is completing her opening now, referring - as she has consistently done - to laws and policies that protect asylum seekers and refugees as "loopholes" in the law. humanrightsfirst.org/press-release/…

In response to question from Sen. Grassley, Nielsen attacks two laws that provide the most basic protection for refugee kids - the TVPRA and the Flores settlement.

Sec. Nielsen complains she is prevented from deporting people with criminal convictions because of legal "loopholes."

I can't overstate how recklessly Sec. Nielsen is misusing the word "loophole." Immigration law requires mandatory detention and deportation for crimes as minor as drug possession. law.nyu.edu/sites/default/…

@SenFeinstein asks Nielsen about reports she will announce a policy of family separation at the border. Nielsen says no decision has been made. Also refers to court decision putting limits on DHS's ability to detain refugee kids as a burden they're trying to work around.

Nielsen again refers to minimal protections for refugee kids as problems. Assails protections for children including a non-adversarial asylum hearing. She's a mouthpiece for the administration's all-out assault on refugee children. Read @NIJC policy brief immigrantjustice.org/sites/default/….

@SenatorLeahy points out flaws in counter-terrorism report released by DHS and DOJ this morning and asks for numbers on how many of those convicted were born in country subject to travel ban and how many years resided in the United States.

Unbelievable back and forth between Nielsen and @SenatorLeahy regarding 10 year old Rosa Hernandez. Nielsen claim Rosa was not "detained" because DHS turned her over to Health and Human Services. WHO THEN DETAINED HER. washingtonpost.com/news/post-nati…

Nielsen and Sen. Cornyn furthering dangerous mis-truths regarding MS13 and gangs, both attempting based on absolutely no evidence to demonize immigrant youth. theatlantic.com/news/archive/2…

.@SenatorDurbin has brought a few plus ones to the hearing with him - DACA recipients he is introducing, whose futures as a doctor and chemical engineer in the military are on the line if the Dream Act does not pass. Thank you @SenatorDurbin.

Here we go. @SenatorDurbin presses Nielsen on Trump's vulgar statements at a meeting they both attended. Nielsen refuses to confirm or deny Trump's vulgarity. She's papering over the President's racism, hiding behind support for a so-called merit-based system. She's complicit.

Nielsen says deficiency in Durbin/Graham group's proposal is not enough border security. Literally no evidence supports her objection. Relevant and devastating read here on CBP's failure to document the deaths of migrants seeking safety in the U.S. azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

.@amyklobuchar specifically asks Nielsen to confirm that she did not hear the President use the term "s-hole" or "s-house," noting that "words matter." Nielsen confirms - under oath - that she did not. Wow. washingtonpost.com/politics/insid…

While Nielsen doubles down on the administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric, immigrant activists are @JohnCornyn's office demanding a #cleandreamactnow and #nofamilyban

@SenBlumenthal asks why he has not received responses to long-pending letters his office sent regarding DHS's enforcement operations in sensitive locations including hospitals: immigrantjustice.org/staff/blog/par…

.@CoryBooker opens his first hearing on the Senate Judiciary Committee by highlighting the unacceptable treatment of DACA recipients. Gets an admission from Nielsen that she's never met with DACA recipients.

.@CoryBooker is delivering a searing condemnation of Trump's racist words in the Oval Office and Nielsen's shameful testimony. "When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power it is a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is complicit in it."

Kind of amazing moment as Sen. Graham explains to Nielsen why DACA negotiations are not the time to ask for Stephen Miller's wish list: "Do you understand leverage?"

.@SenKamalaHarris begins her questioning, echoing concerns about words motivated by racism: "At their mildest form ... it suggests to one group of people that they are inferior and to another that they are superior. This is a pivotal moment in the country of our history."

.@SenKamalaHarris asks if Nielsen has issued the directive she committed to at her confirmation hearing informing DHS employees that DACA recipients are not priorities for enforcement. Nielsen's response: No.

.@SenKamalaHarris asks for clarification re enforcement at sensitive locations. "I would suggest to you it is NOT helpful for border patrol agents to follow an ambulance to a hospital and then arrest a 10 year old after her surgery."

In response to Nielsen's persistent reference to asylum protections as "loopholes," @SenatorDurbin recommends to Nielsen this incredible New Yorker piece on those who are killed after deportation, denied refuge by the U.S. and sent back to their death newyorker.com/magazine/2018/…

Remembering during this remarkable hearing that one of the most recent "targets" of Nielsen's DHS is Ravi Ragbir, a beloved and revered leader of the immigrants rights movement. Speak out:

.@SenatorLeahy asks about delayed OIG report on travel ban. Nielsen says no unlawful actions taken because passengers denied permission to board flights had visas revoked. I wonder: were they lawfully revoked? And: why hasn't the report been released? washingtonpost.com/world/national…

@SenBlumenthal asks Nielsen to commit to compliance with the sensitive locations memo. She agrees but notes that courthouses are not sensitive locations. They should be (and thanks to @SenBlumenthal and others sponsoring legislation that would make it so!) nytimes.com/2017/11/26/opi…

Thanks @maziehirono for correcting Nielsen's false statements regarding refugee children, the vast majority of whom do go to court when they are represented.

.@SenBooker reads from DHS OIG report detailing inhumane treatment in immigration jails, describes findings as "an assault to human dignity." Nielsen commits to review report and brief the Sen. on actions. He responds: "I will take you up on that offer." oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/…

.@SenKamalaHarris pushes Nielsen on her agency's refusal to discriminate between criminal offenses, felonies, and the civil offense of entering the country without permission. Urges Nielsen to look at the case of Luis Mora, recent target of DHS: sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigrati…

Agree.

Hearing is adjourned. Closing this thread by elevating the story of yet one more family devastated by this administration's policies of hate, policies embraced today by Secretary Nielsen. usatoday.com/story/news/nat…