Possible Border Policy Changes? CBP Boss Kevin McAleenan to Replace DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
McAleenan has respect from both parties, but will he have the toughness desired by Trump?
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned on Sunday after butting heads with President Donald Trump over policy and border control issues. He recently asked her “to close the ports of entry along the border and to stop accepting asylum seekers, which Ms. Nielsen found ineffective and inappropriate.”
Trump has chosen US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan as acting DHS secretary, but will he have the toughness Trump desires in the role? Some officials told CNN that they don’t consider McAleenan “an ideologue or fire breather” when it comes to immigration.
McAleenan began his career in 2001. President Barack Obama appointed him as deputy commissioner of CBP in 2017. He became the commissioner in March 2018 after the Senate confirmed him, 77-19.
It looks like McAleenan has respect from both Democrats and Republicans. The Washington Post reported that he “is generally well-liked by leaders in both parties and is viewed as a neutral, technocratic law enforcement official, rather than an immigration hawk.” While he travels to the border a lot to speak to officials and observe the situation, he also takes the time to speak with those who fled their countries and want asylum in America.
Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan told Fox News that Trump made the right choice because McAleenan “knows border issues, and he can hit the ground running.”
Homan believes McAleenan “will think outside the box” and “put his foot on the gas.”
McAleenan has shown agreement with Trump about the border. He told The El Paso Times that “the border has hit a ‘breaking point'” during a visit in March:
The immigration system “breaking point has arrived this week,” McAleenan said.
“CBP is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis all along our Southwest Border — and nowhere has that crisis manifested more acutely than here in El Paso,” McAleenan said.
In the past two mornings, border officers took more than 12,000 migrants into custody along the border, McAleenan said.
“A high number is 4,000 — 6,000 is crisis level,” McAleenan said. “Twelve thousand is unprecedented. On Monday, we saw the highest total of apprehensions and encounters in years, with over 4,000 in a single day.”
He continued, “We are now on pace for over 100,000 apprehensions and encounters with migrants, with 90 percent — 90,000 — crossing the border illegally between ports of entry. March will be the highest month in over a decade.”
McAleenan has tried to pressure Congress to fix our immigration system, especially by passing policy to expedite political asylum claims made by migrants since he found “that 10 to 15 percent of migrants have legitimate asylum claims, but it will take years for those claims to be heard in court.”
While many have blamed Trump, the DHS, and CBP for the problems at the border, it appears that officials like McAleenan have done everything they can to run the situation smoothly. They need that help from Congress.
This is why some say that McAleenan is the correct choice. From The Washington Post:
A DHS official said McAleenan is a well-timed pick to engage Democrats as the Trump administration clamors for more money for border enforcement. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said McAleenan could engage Democrats “a lot more effectively” than Nielsen because of his deeper understanding of the issues unfolding on the border.
John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE under Obama and a top aide to then-DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, said McAleenan is a quality leader who will do “an incredible job.”
“McAleenan is a very smart guy and very competent. He’s enforcement-focused but not an ideological figure,” Sandweg said. “This administration likes tough-talking, sound-bite guys, and that’s not Kevin. He’s not a big loud talker, or the kind of guy who will say outrageous things to sound tough.”
After reading about McAleenan, I believe he is the right fit and hope he continues to pressure Congress to make changes. THAT is where the solution lies. Not with DHS, ICE, or CBP. Congress has to tackle our immigration system.
[Featured image via YouTube and YouTube]
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Comments
Don’t count on any action from Congress until after the 2020 election. That’s when we need to clean house and elect people who will support President Trump and a sane immigration policy. Until then it will be President Trump and his Executive emergency authority against the Obama judiciary appointees.
“Cleaning house” is threatened every primary season. Unfortunately for the populace, the Establishment on both sides take out the potential cleaners. This resultsin people who have been in office for decades. Cleaning begins at the primary level, not the general.
“CBP is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis all along our Southwest Border”
The only way to bring quick changes is by killing invaders and sending their dead bodies back over the border via human cannons. That would send a clear message. Yes, it is brutal, but so is what illegals are doing to our society.
For first 2 years of the Trump Presidency, the repubs owned the House and Senate, yet didn’t do a thing to shut down the invasion.
Their allegiances lie with the sweat shop donors, not with the American people.
That complaint is understandable, but too many of that congressional majority were Chamber of Commerce, pro-immigration types who were more interested in pushing the tired Republican agenda of lower taxes, deregulation and free trade.
…and over in the Senate, there was McCain.
Exactly. Ryan wasn’t going to do anything serious to stop illegals.
When she was on Tucker, he specifically asked why the President did not expand E-Verify by executive order. Instead of s specific answer one way or the other, or any other pertinent response, she resorted to the old double-talk. Unfortunately, Tucker did not follow up. I really do wonder why the Administration is not addressing E-Verify, either by executive order or hectoring the Congress. Deep State at work? Anybody know?
The reason she didn’t give a straight answer is that E-verify would interfere with illegal farm labor, on which many Trump-supporting rural voters depend. The same farmers that wait for the Farm Bill every year are hiring illegals under the table and paying them substandard wages.
If you watch Trump’s speech to rural America from a year ago, he actually speaks very carefully about the border (29:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eB4OkqUk9k
When he discusses the border at 29:00, he addresses the opiod crisis and the crime that comes over the border, but not illegal labor. He has to thread the needle between keeping out the crime but letting in the illegal workers.
Thank you. Although that disappoints me, you seem to be knowledgeable about the situation. I sure hope President Trump is able to maneuver around these political problems, and solve this emergency.
Two caveats here.
The first is that McAleenan is will liked by the leadership of both parties, in Congress. This statement usually means that the person is a get-along, go-along administrator, not rebel who will “think outside the box”.
The second thing is that it is impossible to cajole the Congress into taking any action on immigration. The Congress has refused to see reason for the last thirty-five years and it will not willingly choose to act reasonably now.
What is really needed, to deal with the current immigration problem, is someone who will employ extreme measures which will force the major backers of open borders, especially the Chamber of Commerce, to pressure Congress into acting responsibly by passing legislation to address the inadequacies of our current immigration laws. Trump is willing to do this. It is doubtful that any appointee to DHS will. To paraphrase Rip Torn in the movie Down Periscope; “Damn it to hell, don’t go by the book, think like a pirate! I want a man with a tattoo on his d**k! Have I got the right man? ” That “man” is not McAleenan and it certainly wasn’t Neilsen, who has always had close ties to the Washington political Establishment.
Don’t get your hopes up that McAleenan will change much, vis-a-vis immigration.
KRIS KORBACH.
The buzz words I’m seeing all translate to “useless”.
has respect from both Democrats and Republicans means that neither expect him to rock any boats.
Some officials told CNN that they don’t consider McAleenan “an ideologue or fire breather” when it comes to immigration. Ditto. No danger whatsoever of any action which might stir things up.
is viewed as a neutral, technocratic law enforcement official, rather than an immigration hawk. Again. A reliable paper-shuffler, and that’s all.
While he travels to the border a lot to speak to officials and observe the situation, he also takes the time to speak with those who fled their countries and want asylum in America.
Nobody cares why they want asylum. It’s utterly irrelevant. What is relevant is that Americans don’t want their country to be packed full of people who already believe they can blow off American laws they happen to find inconvenient. Motives don’t have anything to do with it.
officials like McAleenan have done everything they can to run the situation smoothly
We don’t want it to run smoothly. We want it to run effectively. That means it should be a real border, not a race track.
All in all, not a promising development. The only important question is, does he work for the President, or does the think he works for someone else?
“Homan believes McAleenan “will think outside the box” and “put his foot on the gas.””
And he’ll behave metaphorically in numerous other ways as well.
He sounds like a competent guy, but we need more than competence. We need a nasty, aggressive b@st@rd who will do what is necessary at the border without consideration of collateral damage.
I agree, rather than giving them a hearing date and releasing them, we need to give the a bullet, and release the body. We have 20-30 million illegals, over twenty years they will turn into that plus 65-100 million additional anchor babies. That is a staggering impact on our society, and the second generation will be much worse.
I don’t agree with the bullet idea; however, you are spot on with the impact of the numbers.
I am frustrated, illegals cost our society in so many ways, and there is no end in sight. They mock us and somehow we need to change the dynamics of the situation.
As far as I am concerned, one American life is worth more than all the illegals.
These SOBs have effectively annexed southern California. Will anything short of lethal force change their conduct?
isn’t allowing this charade to continue dishonoring everyone who died or was maimed defending America? Did they make the ultimate sacrifice only to hand America over to the latest wave of invading barbarians?
They need to go after the organizers of these waves. These were all setup while Obama was in office and I guarantee they’re using our tax money to bus them up from south America. Sorry, but they aren’t walking over a thousand miles with a backpack and no food.
Kris Korbach is the man for the job.
Hands down.
Trump should have forced her to resign last year.