Trump allies pressuring DHS chief to resign

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Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who took over the post less than three months ago, is under heavy criticism from prominent Trump allies. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

 

Hard-liners inside and outside the Trump administration are pressing for the removal of President Donald Trump’s acting Homeland Security secretary amid a rolling leadership purge that began in April and shows no signs of ending, according to five people in the Trump administration and four former Department of Homeland Security officials.

Kevin McAleenan, who took over the post less than three months ago, is under heavy criticism from prominent Trump allies, including former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan, who might become the administration’s immigration czar.

Following the purge of three other immigration officials since the April resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, McAleenan stands accused of disloyalty to the Trump White House’s hard line on immigration because of a perception that he didn’t support ICE raids targeting migrant families scheduled to begin last weekend.

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders, a McAleenan ally, said Monday that he’ll resign effective July 5. Sanders did not offer a public explanation for his resignation.

Several critics of the administration, including former DHS officials, have characterized the latest shakeup as another instance of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller seizing an opportunity to fill key immigration posts with allies. But one senior administration official said the president also agrees with these stances.

“The two issues the president is driving the train on at all times are trade and immigration,” the official said. “There is disbelief inside the administration that we can’t enforce the law and people are trying to find the right personnel who will do it and not look for ways out of it.”

Miller and DHS did not respond to requests for comment. The White House press office also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on McAleenan.

The turmoil mirrors a chaotic situation along the southern border, where thousands of migrants are arriving each day and detained children are being denied basic necessities like toothbrushes and soap. Current and former DHS employees complain that the leadership turnover and attendant jostling for power have slowed the government’s ability to respond to what is now widely recognized to be a crisis.

“It’s awful for morale,” said one current CBP official. “Whoever’s going to be confirmed to acting [commissioner] next, we’re back to square one, getting a new person briefed. … It’s like starting all over in a transition.”

Homan suggested on “Fox & Friends” that this week’s planned ICE raids were delayed because McAleenan leaked information about them.

“You’ve got the acting secretary of Homeland Security resisting what ICE is trying to do,” Homan said. “In The Washington Post or in numerous media outlets, he does not support this operation, and I tell you what, if that’s his position, then he’s on the wrong side of this issue. You don’t tell the men and women of ICE, a day before they go out there and do this operation — ‘Look, this story was leaked.’ They gave the locations of the cities, the day it was supposed to start, how many targets.”

Homan spoke while sitting in front of a DHS seal, looking like a government official — something he has not been since June 2018. The seal was in a room set up in the basement of his Virginia home, according to two former DHS officials. Trump told Fox News on June 14 that Homan would be his new “border czar,” but Homan said a day later that the announcement was “kind of premature” and indicated that he hadn’t yet decided whether to take the job. An administration official said Wednesday that Homan has not yet been given a clear description of what the job would entail.

“Homan’s getting paid a lot better as border czar of Fox News than border czar of the White House,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the pro-migrant National Immigration Forum. “And he kind of has the same job, to go on Fox News and carry the administration’s message.”

Several administration officials and hard-line immigration advocates have targeted McAleenan in recent days, arguing behind the scenes that he’s too liberal to run DHS because he served under President Barack Obama and has donated money in the past to Democratic candidates and organizations. Conservative media outlets, including the Washington Examiner, have run critical stories to amplify that narrative.