CNN panel shreds Trump’s 'dystopian Disney character' DHS chief for cruelty to immigrant children

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this week went on Fox News to defend separating parents who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border from their children -- and a CNN panel tore her to shreds.

In particular, CNN's Jon Avlon took Nielsen to task for saying Americans ought to have more "compassion" for people who were victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants than they have for undocumented immigrant children who get separated from their parents.

"I think a conversation about compassion that's predicated on defending separating children from their parents and putting children on military bases is fundamentally flawed," he said. "Are you trying to be a dystopian Disney character? Right now there's a capacity for 10,000 children on this military base. Now, if there are 20 kids in a kindergarten class, that's 500 kindergarten classes being policed by soldiers."

Fellow panelist A.B. Stoddard noted that the Trump administration has some discretion about whether it had to pursue criminal prosecutions at all, as it could simply turn people away at the border and keep their families intact. She said this should especially be an option if the United States military doesn't have the capacity to house undocumented immigrant families.

Watch the video below.