“Do you view those you call ‘illegal aliens’ to be human or subhuman?” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) repeatedly pressed Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen on Thursday during her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. After a brief pause, Nielsen replied: “Illegal aliens are human, sir,” notably repeating the term for undocumented immigrants widely considered to be a slur against the migrant community.

Seemingly satisfied that the Trump cabinet member believed in the humanity of migrant asylum seekers, the Democrat asked Nielsen if she believed "DHS was prepared to implement your family-separation policy when it went into effect?”

“Sir, we never had a policy for family separation,” Nielsen said, denying the very policy that has put her department under immense public pressure. “What we did do was, we applied the law equally to anybody broke it, and if you were any illegal crosser of the Southwest border we need to decide to become referred you for prosecution.”