By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has become the face of family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border, even after helping to orchestrate the executive order that would reverse it.
Earlier this week, Nielsen had skewed the facts at a combative news conference on the issue. And she was heckled by protesters shouting "Shame!" after she convened a "working dinner" at a Mexican restaurant.
People who know Nielsen say she wasn't 100 percent behind the idea of the new policy, but that the administration was also caught off guard by the public blowback on separating kids from their families.
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(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen listens to President Donald Trump address members of the media before Trump signs an executive order to end family separations at the border, during an event in the Oval ...
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). President Donald Trump, center, with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, before signing an executive order to end family separations at the border, during an eve...
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). In this June 18, 2018 photo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speak to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. Nielsen is drafting an executive action for...
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, center, walks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, after attending a meeting with President Donald Trump and members of the GOP leadership, Tuesday, June 19, 2018.