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<\/span><\/figure>\nMeanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which implements Mr Trump’s immigration directives, is in turmoil following a major shake-up.<\/p>\n
DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen quit on Sunday after being summoned to the White House by the president.<\/p>\n
This was followed by the resignation of the agency’s acting deputy secretary, Claire Grady, on Wednesday. Ms Grady was legally supposed to take over from Ms Nielsen.<\/p>\n
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called on Mr Trump on Monday to halt the leadership purge at the DHS.<\/p>\n
The senior senator\u00a0told the Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0he was “very, very concerned” about reports of possible further dismissals.<\/p>\n “The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he’s made for his campaign,” Mr Grassley said.<\/p>\n “He’s pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal.”<\/p>\n Last week Mr Trump rescinded his own nomination of Ronald Vitiello as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n Speaking to Fox News on Monday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said: “It’s time to do things a little differently.<\/p>\n “The president’s looking around to reshape his team so he can have the people in place to carry out his agenda.”<\/p>\n There are also reports that the president is preparing to toughen his stance on immigration.<\/p>\n According to the New York Times<\/a>, Mr Trump is considering implementing further limits on asylum seekers, ending birthright citizenship, and closing ports of entry at the Mexican border.<\/p>\n But Mr Trump denied on Tuesday reports that his administration was planning once again to separate families caught crossing the border.<\/p>\n “We are not looking to do it,” he said.<\/p>\n He added: “Once you don’t have it [child separation], that’s why you see many more people coming. They’re coming like it’s a picnic because let’s go to Disneyland.”<\/p>\n More than 2,700 immigrant children were separated from their parents last year under a so-called zero tolerance US policy to prosecute anyone caught crossing the border illegally.<\/p>\n According to US media, the White House has recently been considering a “binary choice” policy.<\/p>\n This would give migrant parents awaiting immigration hearings two options: agree for their child to be held separately, or be detained together, possibly indefinitely, until their court date.<\/p>\n A 1997 court decision known as the Flores agreement states that immigrant children are only allowed to be held for 20 days.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has reportedly drafted a regulation to change these rules,\u00a0an official told the Axios news website<\/a>, so that the government could detain children for longer periods of time.<\/p>\n Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller is said to be encouraging the president to adopt an increasingly hardline stance on immigration.<\/p>\n Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Monday called Mr Miller “a white nationalist” on Twitter.<\/p>\n Mr Trump fired back at Ms Omar on Twitter, calling her criticism of Mr Miller, who is Jewish, anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n “‘What’s completely unacceptable is for Congresswoman Omar to target Jews, in this case Stephen Miller'”, Mr Trump wrote, citing a segment on Fox Business Network.<\/p>\n Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin also condemned Ms Omar for her comments.<\/p>\n “During my time in Congress before @IlhanOmar got here, I didn’t once witness another Member target Jewish people like this with the name calling & other personal attacks”, Mr Lee wrote. “For @IlhanOmar, this is just called Monday.”<\/p>\n The comments follow widespread condemnation of Ms Omar last month for her criticism of pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington DC.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, amid an ongoing debate about immigration on both sides of the Atlantic, former President Barack Obama told young people at a town hall meeting in Berlin, Germany: “We can’t label everybody disturbed by immigration as racist.”<\/p>\n He also said immigrants should be encouraged to learn the language of their adopted country.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/span><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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