Rep. Luis Gutiérrez declared that the Trump administration’s immigration policies would have killed Jesus Christ during a scathing statement Thursday attacking Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

The Illinois Democrat used the entirety of his time at the House Judiciary Committee hearing to trash Ms. Nielsen as a “remorseless” liar for her repeated claims that the department does not have a family separation policy.

“It is repugnant to me and astonishing to me that during Christmas, a time in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ — a Jesus Christ who had to flee for his life with Mary and Joseph,” Mr. Gutiérrez said. “Thank God there wasn’t a wall that stopped him from seeking refuge in Egypt.

“Thank God that wall wasn’t there and thank God there wasn’t an administration like this or he would have, too, perished on the 28th, on the Day of Innocents when [King] Herod ordered the murder of every child under 2 years of age,” he continued. “Shame on everybody that separates children and allows them to stay at the other side of the border fearing death, fearing hunger, fearing sickness. Shame on us for wearing our badge of Christianity during Christmas and allow the secretary to come here and lie.”

Ms. Nielsen said Mr. Gutiérrez’s efforts to paint her as a liar are “fighting words.”

“I’m not a liar,” Ms. Nielsen replied. “We’ve never had a policy for family separation. I’m happy to walk the gentleman through it again. A policy of family separation would mean that any family that I encountered in the interior, I would separate. It would mean that any family that I found at port of entry, I would separate. It would mean every single family that I found illegally crossing, we would separate. We did none of those. What we did do is uphold the laws that Congress has passed and we prosecuted those who choose to come here illegally.”

Ms. Nielsen then noted that Mr. Gutierrez had left the room.

“He couldn’t be bothered to stay,” she said. “So I’m happy to tell the rest of the committee.”

“I take personal offense on behalf of the 240,000 men and women of the Department of Homeland Security,” she added.

Rep. Louis Gohmert later used his time to shoot down Mr. Gutierrez’s Bible analogy.

“And for my colleague to the left, if Mary and Joseph were trying to come into the United States under the situation that existed and King Herod was trying to kill everybody under 2, wouldn’t they be eligible for asylum in the United States?” Mr. Gohmert asked Ms. Nielsen.

“Yes,” Ms. Nielsen replied.

“Yeah, so he can scratch that from his concerns,” Mr. Gohmert concluded.

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