New York Times
By Sarah Mervosh
June 20, 2018
Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, got an earful while she was eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington on Tuesday night.
With tensions continuing to escalate over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that separates children from their families after illegal crossings at the border, a group of protesters confronted her.
“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace,” the protesters shouted, according to video footage of the encounter that they posted on social media.
The group also led chants of “shame!” and one protester took issue with the fact that Ms. Nielsen was enjoying dinner at a Mexican restaurant, “of all places.”
Ms. Nielsen, who is responsible for carrying out President Trump’s efforts to reduce immigration, did not appear to respond to the protesters during the almost 11-minute video.
Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, a liberal group that works for social and economic justice, claimed responsibility for the protest. A spokesman for the group said that a diner had tipped off the group that Ms. Nielsen was eating at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, and that about 15 activists arrived at the restaurant around 8 p.m. He said he believed that Ms. Nielsen left after the protesters did.
The group interrupted what a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security described as a “work dinner.”
Osita Nwanevu
@OsitaNwanevu
DHS Secretary Nielsen just got driven out of a Mexican restaurant here on 14th Street by activists. DSA, I believe.
8:20 PM – Jun 19, 2018
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“While having a work dinner tonight, the secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border,” a department spokesman, Tyler Q. Houlton, posted on Twitter. He shifted the focus to Congress, asking people who are concerned about immigration to reach out to their representatives.
Ms. Nielsen also took to Twitter on Tuesday night, retweeting a message from President Trump saying that she did a “fabulous job” at a news conference on Monday. She also posted that she would “work tirelessly until our broken immigration system is fixed, our borders are secure and families can stay together.”
Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America released a statement from a member of its steering committee, Margaret McLaughlin: “We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border.”
She added that while Ms. Nielsen’s dinner “may have been ruined, it is nothing compared to the horrors she has inflicted on innocent families.”
A worker who answered the phone at MXDC Cocina Mexicana late Tuesday referred inquiries to a public relations representative, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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