UPDATE APRIL 7: President Donald Trump announced today that Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned as Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
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Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was in Yuma on Thursday. Nielsen met with officials at the Border Patrol Yuma Sector headquarters.
Nielsen told local elected officials and representatives of migrant services groups that it will take a community approach to solve the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, but Congress will have to act to change immigration law.
Joined by Yuma sector border officials, Nielsen held a closed-door discussion to address her department’s emergency response in the sector, a sector she says is running at more than 200 percent of capacity.
Doug Nicholls, the mayor of Yuma, says he told Nielsen the best solution is not to release migrants in the community.
“What we’re looking for ultimately is the ability to keep migrants from being released in the Yuma community," Nicholls said. "Right now there’s no direct end in sight but there are things in motion to mitigate that and hopefully, in the long term, solve the problem.”
Nielsen will meet President Donald Trump in nearby Calexico on Friday.
