Message from Secretary Nielsen on Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family
Separation
6/22/2018
As many of you are aware, we are in the midst of an illegal immigration crisis on our southern
border that has been fueled by a decades-long failure to fully enforce our nation's immigration
laws. While DHS — and the full administration — has worked to ensure no one is exempt from
the consequences of violating our laws, there has been significant misinformation about our
efforts. I want to give you the facts, and also thank all of you who have continued to work
diligently and professionally in this environment.
This week, President Trump signed the Executive Order Affording Congress an Opportunity to
Address Family Separation. This Executive Order will permit alien families who have crossed our
border illegally to remain together where appropriate and consistent with law and available
resources. It also directs the Attorney General to appeal the Flores v. Reno decision with the
federal courts to reopen its ruling that prevents us from detaining minors with parents. This is
the court ruling that has limited the department's ability to keep families together while adults
are held accountable for illegally crossing our borders.
While this Executive Order will allow illegal alien families to remain together for a certain
period without compromising border security, it will not solve the problem permanently.
Congress must change the law to provide a lasting solution to family separation. As DHS
employees know all too well, our laws also continue to be exploited by sex traffickers and
human smugglers who take advantage of children to gain illegal entry into our country. To fix
our broken immigration system, we are asking Congress to address at a minimum three major
loopholes:
• First, we need to amend the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. This
well-intentioned law results in unintentional consequences. Instead of protecting children from
dangerous traffickers, this law encourages families to put their children in the hands of
smugglers on a dangerous trek northward.
• Second, we need to reform our asylum laws to end the systemic abuse of our asylum system.
Currently our asylum system fails to assist those who legitimately need it and is overrun with
fraud. We are a country of compassion — a country of heart. We must fix the system so that
those who truly need asylum can, in fact, receive it.
• Third, we need to amend the Flores Settlement Agreement which would allow for family
detention during the removal process — and we need Congress to fund our ability to hold
families together through the immigration process.
With these legislative changes, we can secure our borders and uphold our humanitarian ideals.
These two missions should not be pitted against each other. We can accomplish both.

 Our mission at DHS has always been difficult. None of us signed up for the easy jobs — we
wanted to solve the big problems that face this country. It is our responsibility to keep
Americans safe, to protect the homeland. Now more than ever we must rededicate ourselves to
that mission and not be distracted by the noise.
I cannot tell you how proud I am of the work you all have done — and do every day — to
defend this nation. I will continue to correct the record and stand up for the department. But in
the meantime, you should know that I have your back as you do your jobs. We are all
disappointed by the tenor of today's public discourse, but you should keep your heads high and
your efforts focused on the missions that brought us all into this department in the first place.
I will also continue to work diligently with Congress to close loopholes, secure our borders, and
keep families together and will be sure to keep DHS employees informed as progress is made.
Thank you for your steadfast support of the DHS mission and for your remarkable efforts to
keep our nation safe and secure.
Best regards,
Kirstjen M Nielsen
Secretary of Homeland Security
With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our
values.