Kirstjen Nielsen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kirstjen Nielsen
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Official portrait, 2018
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| 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security | |
| In office December 6, 2017 – April 10, 2019 |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Deputy | Elaine Duke Claire Grady (acting) |
| Preceded by | John F. Kelly |
| Succeeded by | Alejandro Mayorkas |
| White House Principal Deputy Chief of Staff | |
| In office September 6, 2017 – December 6, 2017 |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Chief of Staff | John F. Kelly |
| Preceded by | Katie Walsh |
| Succeeded by | James W. Carroll |
| Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Homeland Security | |
| In office January 20, 2017 – July 31, 2017 |
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| Secretary | John F. Kelly |
| Preceded by | Paul Rosen |
| Succeeded by | Chad Wolf |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen
May 14, 1972 Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. |
| Education | Georgetown University (BS) University of Virginia (JD) |
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen ( born May 14, 1972) is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Nielsen was confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security on December 5, 2017. Nielsen is best known for implementing the Trump administration family separation policy. She resigned in April 2019.
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Early life and education
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen was born on May 14, 1972, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Phyllis Michele Nielsen and James McHenry Nielsen, both United States Army physicians. Nielsen's father is of Danish ancestry while her mother is of Italian descent. The oldest of three children, Nielsen has a sister, Ashley, and a brother, Fletcher. Following Nielsen's birth, the family relocated from Colorado Springs to Clearwater, Florida.
Following high school, Nielsen attended the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree. She then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, receiving her Juris Doctor in 1999. She also took Japanese studies at Nanzan University, in Nagoya, Japan.
Early career
Nielsen served during the George W. Bush administration as special assistant to the president and as senior director for prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) at the White House Homeland Security Council. She also set up, and led as assistant administrator, the Transportation Security Administration's Office of Legislative Policy and Government Affairs.
After leaving the Bush administration in 2008, Nielsen became the founder and president of Sunesis Consulting. The firm's online profile listed her as its only employee, with the firm's phone number being Nielsen's personal cellphone. In September 2013 the company won a federal contract, with an initial award of about $450,000, to "provide policy and legislation, technical writing, and organizational development" to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Nielsen was a senior member of the Resilience Task Force of the Center for Cyber & Homeland Security Committee at George Washington University and served on the Global Risks Report Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum.
Initial positions in the Trump administration
Nielsen served as John F. Kelly's chief of staff at the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after he assumed that position on January 20, 2017. In early September 2017, just over a month after Kelly became White House chief of staff on July 31, 2017, Nielsen moved to the White House, becoming the principal deputy chief of staff under Kelly.
Secretary of Homeland Security
On October 11, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Nielsen to be the new United States secretary of homeland security, replacing acting secretary Elaine Duke. On December 5, 2017, the Senate confirmed her nomination, by a 62–37 vote. On December 6, 2017, she was sworn in as secretary of homeland security.
In October 2018, Nielsen said that China has become a major threat to the U.S.
In January 2019, Nielsen, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and FBI director Christopher Wray announced 23 criminal charges (including financial fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of trade secret technology, provided bonus to workers who stole confidential information from companies around the world, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and sanctions violations) against Chinese tech giant Huawei and its CFO Meng Wanzhou.
Family separation policy
On May 7, 2018, Secretary Nielsen, despite her objection, officially enacted a controversial practice of the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children accused of crossing over the U.S.–Mexico border illegally.
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At a congressional hearing on May 15, 2018, Nielsen testified that she would enforce the then-newly enacted Trump administration policy of separating parents and children who crossed over the U.S.–Mexico border, noting that similar separations happened in criminal courts "every day."
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On June 20, 2018, after repeatedly arguing that the administration could not sign an executive order to end family separations, she was present at Trump's signing of an executive order ending his "zero-tolerance" policy of separating of children from families. Sources told Politico that Nielsen had privately pushed for this executive order behind the scenes while at the same time saying publicly that the executive order could not be created.
Nielsen testified before Congress that "every parent" had the choice to take their child back and that the parents who left their children behind did so voluntarily. A 2021 investigation by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General found that parents were forcibly deported without their children, which contradicted Nielsen's claims that the parents had a choice.
In 2019, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) wrote in a letter to FBI director Christopher A. Wray: “...the FBI should immediately investigate whether Secretary Nielsen’s statements [to Congress] violate 18 U.S. Code § 1621, 18 U.S.C § 1001, or any other relevant federal statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress.” Other Democratic representatives also echoed the same accusations. Nielsen has repeatedly denied the allegations of perjury. In October 2019, Nielsen defended the family separation policy, saying "I don’t regret enforcing the law."
Resignation
In May 2018, The New York Times reported that Nielsen considered resigning after President Trump berated her during a cabinet meeting for what he described as her failure to secure U.S. borders. The newspaper reported that there was tension between Nielsen and Trump after she and other DHS officials resisted Trump's call to separate undocumented immigrant parents from their children while in custody.
Nielsen submitted her resignation as secretary of homeland security on April 7, 2019, after a White House meeting with President Trump, two days after the President announced he wanted to go in a "tougher" direction on immigration.
On April 5, immigration and civil rights groups had urged companies listed in the Fortune 500 not to hire senior Trump administration officials who were involved in planning, carrying out, or defending the separation of migrant children from their parents. On April 8, a petition aimed at scholars and media figures began circulating, with signers vowing not to "associate myself in any way" with any think tank or university department that employs Nielsen.
In a piece summarizing Nielsen's tenure at DHS, Vox's Dara Lind wrote that Nielsen had been "arguably the most aggressive secretary in the department's short history".
Post-DHS career
In October 2019, the Trump Administration announced that Nielsen had been appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
See also
In Spanish: Kirstjen Nielsen para niños
- List of female United States Cabinet members
