Anderson Cooper tore into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednesday for failing to answer one key question during a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee.
The host of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°” said he found it “hard to imagine” why Nielsen would not be able to tell the congressional hearing how many migrant children remain in custody as a result of the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If you were the point person in charge of kids in custody, some trying to be reunited with parents, some sick, kids of all ages, don’t you think that’s a number you would carry around in your head with you every single day?” asked Cooper.
“Not knowing how many kids you’ve got locked up, it’s part of a pattern for Secretary Nielsen and the administration of not being forthcoming about their policies at the border,” he later added.
Cooper also explained why Nielsen’s claim that the separation policy was done for the protection of the children “does seem kind of Orwellian when you consider what subsequently was done to them.”
