Tag: Trump Homeland Security

Meet the Official Accused of Helping Trump Politicize Homeland Security

New York Times logoChad F. Wolf joined the Department of Homeland Security in its infancy to help prevent another 9/11. Now he is helping President Trump use it to achieve his political ambitions.

WASHINGTON — It took only 24 hours after President Trump attacked New York City in his State of the Union address for the president’s man at the Department of Homeland Security to act.

Chad F. Wolf had joined the department nearly two decades before as a midlevel staff member to help the sprawling new agency gear up to protect Americans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But in February, as the new acting secretary of homeland security, Mr. Wolf introduced himself to most in the United States by announcing on Fox News that New Yorkers were suspended from enrolling in expedited air traveler programs because their state had barred federal immigration enforcement agencies from gaining access to Department of Motor Vehicle records.

“It’s particularly interesting coming from New York again, from where 9/11 occurred,” Mr. Wolf said in a later appearance on the network. “We want to make sure we share information and not continue to withhold information.” Continue reading.

DHS official whose office compiled ‘intelligence reports’ on journalists and protesters has been removed from his job

Washington Post logoA senior Department of Homeland Security official whose office compiled “intelligence reports” about journalists and protesters in Portland, Ore., has been removed from his job, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Brian Murphy, the acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, was reassigned to a new position elsewhere in the department, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf made the decision on Friday, one person said. Continue reading.

TSA freezes hiring and overtime pay as spring travel season nears

Washington Post logoThe Transportation Security Administration has temporarily frozen hiring and overtime so it can afford across-the-board cost-of-living raises for employees, a move that leaders of the agency’s employee union said could lead to long waits at airport checkpoints during spring break.

Hydrick Thomas, the union’s president, said agency officials told him last week that the freezes would be in place until April or May. That could leave security checkpoints short-staffed, he said.

“You’re going to have long lines,” Thomas said. “That’s just the way it works.” Continue reading.

White House budget plan has Secret Service back under Treasury

Agency has been under Department of Homeland Security since it moved there after the 9/11 attacks

The president’s fiscal 2021 budget blueprint assumes the transfer of the Secret Service back to its traditional home within the Treasury Department.

The agency, which provides presidential security and has primary jurisdiction over a variety of financial crimes, has operated as part of the Department of Homeland Security since it moved there in the bureaucratic reorganization after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The proposal, which was the subject of media reports last week, was effectively revealed in a footnote to an Office of Management and Budget summary table for fiscal 2021 obtained Sunday by CQ Roll Call. Continue reading.

Trump faces serious crunch in search for new Homeland Security leader

The Hill logoPresident Trump is facing a time and personnel crunch in his search for a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary who is both qualified to be appointed to the role and willing to carry out the president’s hard-line immigration agenda.

The president has cycled through four permanent or acting secretaries in less than three years and must now pick a fourth after announcing earlier this month that acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan will resign.

Officials inside the Trump administration and allies outside of it have expressed frustration with the president’s inability to make a choice and worry that time is running out to get the right person installed.

View the complete October 30 article by Brett Samuels and Rafael Bernal on The Hill website here.

‘We’re better than that!’: Top Democrat unleashes fury on Trump official over migrant children being left in ‘feces’

AlterNet logoHouse Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) brought down the hammer on acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Thursday over his department’s cruel treatment of migrant children.

“You feel like you’re doing a great job, right?” asked Cummings during the day’s committee hearing. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“We’re doing out level best in a very challenging —” McAleenan said, starting to answer, but Cummings cut him off.

“What does that mean?!” Cummings erupted. “What does that mean when a child is sitting in their own feces. Can’t take a shower. Come on, man! What’s that about?! None of us would have our children in that position. They are human beings. And I’m trying to figure out — and I get tired of folks saying, ‘Oh, oh they’re just beating up the border patrol. Oh, they’re just beating up on Homeland Security.’ What I’m saying is I want to concentrate on these children. And I want to make sure that they’re OK. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. It’s not the deed that you do to a child, it’s the memory. It’s the memory!”

View the complete July 18 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Homeland Security admits it’s using abhorrent conditions at detention centers to deter migration

It isn’t working and no one wins.

Poor conditions including overcrowding, flu outbreaks, and a lack of clean clothes are just par for the course at an El Paso border station, according to a report released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General. In the report, border patrol argues that these conditions are necessary to stem the flow of migrants to the United States.

The report, first obtained by NBC News, detailed the conditions during a May 7 tour of a border station in the El Paso sector and found that only four showers were available for 756 immigrants. Additionally, over half of the immigrants were being held outside in the Texas heat, while the immigrants inside were being kept in cells at over five times their capacity. One cell meant for a maximum of 35 people held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so overcrowded that the internal temperatures reached over 80 degrees and the men were unable to lay down to sleep.

While border patrol processing centers are only meant for temporary stays of up to 36 hours, some migrants at this facility in El Paso reported stays of over 30 days.

View the complete July 1 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

Before Trump’s purge at DHS, top officials challenged plan for mass family arrests

In the weeks before they were ousted last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and top immigration enforcement official Ronald Vitiello challenged a secret White House plan to arrest thousands of parents and children in a blitz operation against migrants in 10 major U.S. cities.

According to seven current and former Department of Homeland Security officials, the administration wanted to target the crush of families that had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border after the president’s failed “zero tolerance” prosecution push in early 2018. The ultimate purpose, the officials said, was a show of force to send the message that the United States was going to get tough by swiftly moving to detain and deport recent immigrants — including families with children.

The sprawling operation included an effort to fast-track immigration court cases, allowing the government to obtain deportation orders against those who did not show for their hearings — officials said 90 percent of those targeted were found deportable in their absence. The subsequent arrests would have required coordinated raids against parents with children in their homes and neighborhoods.

View the complete May 13 article by Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen Sees White Supremacist Terror Threat

The Department of Homeland Security is admitting that white supremacists are a real and growing problem, rejecting the claim Trump made after the Christchurch mass shooting.

In a speech at George Washington University on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to acknowledge that hate-driven acts of violence are part of a growing problem within the United States.

The would-be terrorists “are using the same do-it-yourself, mass-murder tactics as we saw with the horrible assault last week in New Zealand against Muslim worshipers,” Nielsen said, even though Trump has refused to acknowledge the Islamic faith of those who were targeted in the mosque shootings.

View the complete March 18 article by Oliver Willis with The American Independent on the National Memo website here.

DHS Secretary: Cages For Migrant Kids Are ‘Larger’ Than Dog Cages

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Wednesday testimony on the Trump administration’s child separation policy was an unmitigated disaster.

Nielsen showed up to the hearing, which was called by Democrats who now hold the House majority, completely unprepared and unable to defend the practice of ripping migrant children from their parents at the border.

In one truly jaw-dropping exchange with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Nielsen tried and failed to explain why the facilities used to house some migrant children were any different from the kinds of cages dogs are kept in.

View the complete March 6 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.