Tag: Trump Department of Homeland Security

Giuliani asks DHS about seizing voting machines

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Rudy Giuliani called Ken Cuccinelli, second in command at the Department of Homeland Security, on Thursday night and asked him whether DHS could seize voting machines, a source familiar with the call confirmed to Axios.

The state of play: Cuccinelli responded that DHS does not have that authority, the source said.

Why it matters: The call, first reported by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, is another manifestation of President Trump’s increasingly extreme efforts to contest an election that was called for President-elect Joe Biden six weeks ago. Continue reading.

DHS withheld publication of intel bulletin showing Russian plot to attack Biden’s mental health: report

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According to ABC News, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security withheld publication, in early July, of an intelligence bulletin describing a Russian scheme to push “allegations about” Biden’s “poor mental health.”

ABC News has obtained a copy of the bulletin, titled “Russia Likely to Denigrate Health of U.S. Candidates to Influence 2020 Election.” And ABC reporters Josh Margolin, Lucien Bruggeman, Will Steakin and Jonathan Karl note that the document was submitted to the DHS’ office of legislative and public affairs for review on July 7.

“The analysis was not meant for public consumption,” according to the reporters. “But it was set to be distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement partners two days later, on July 9, the e-mails show.” Continue reading.

Trump Administration Promise to Focus on Extremism Remains Unfulfilled

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A year after the Department of Homeland Security promised to focus more on violent extremism, the plan to carry out that shift remains hidden while the atmosphere worsens.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security started an effort a year ago this month to address domestic terrorism, white nationalist threats and other acts of homegrown violence, a major shift for an agency created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to protect the country from foreign terrorism.

Today the plan to carry out that new mission remains stalled in a bureaucratic morass as clashes between protesters and counterprotesters have escalated to precisely the violent acts that the plan was supposed to address.

Instead, a new crop of Department of Homeland Security leaders, led by the confrontational acting secretary, Chad F. Wolf, appear to be doing the opposite of what had been promised. Far from cooperating with local governments and citizens to combat domestic unrest, particularly from the far right, they have joined President Trump in lashing out at American mayors and governors while deploying federal tactical teams to cities — often expressly against the wishes of the local governments with which they had pledged to cooperate. Continue reading.

White House abruptly transfers DHS official amid loyalty purge

Heather Swift, the deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at DHS, was moved to a senior post at the National Endowment for the Arts.

The White House removed a top public affairs official at the Department of Homeland Security in a move that shocked many in the department as it takes a lead role in handling the coronavirus pandemic, according to two former senior DHS officials familiar with the matter.

Heather Swift, who was DHS’ deputy assistant secretary of public affairs, was abruptly pushed out of her position on Friday after the Presidential Personnel Office raised questions about her loyalty to President Donald Trump, said one of the former DHS officials.

The personnel office may have discovered some old social media posts that officials there did not like, this person said, though POLITICO was unable to find any examples of posts the Trump administration might find objectionable. Continue reading.

Trump, DHS differ on who is acting DHS secretary

President Donald Trump said Friday that he had tapped senior Homeland Security official Chad Wolf to serve as acting DHS secretary, passing over immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli.

Trump told reporters before leaving for a campaign rally in Mississippi that Wolf had replaced acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, whose last day in the job was supposed to be Thursday. McAleenan had planned to extend his stay until Nov. 7, but Trump said Wolf was acting secretary already. “He’s right now acting and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “We have great people in there.“

DHS disputed that in a written statement several minutes later, saying that McAleenan is still in charge. “McAleenan is the acting secretary,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the press pool. “Wolf is the acting undersecretary for policy.“

View the complete November 1 article by Ian Kullgren, Anita Kumar and Daniel Lippman on the Politico website here.

Trump’s legal battles over census go public

The Hill logoThe Trump administration’s internal legal struggles to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census are spilling out into the open.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Sunday that it was cleaning house on the team of lawyers that have spent the past year defending the citizenship question in court. That move came just days after DOJ attorneys told a federal judge that they were caught off guard by President Trump’s announcement that he still wanted the question on the census after the Supreme Court ruled against it. 

Legal experts were shocked by the decision to change attorneys. But it may have been the only way the administration could continue pushing for the citizenship question in court.

View the complete July 8 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

The Trump administration has changed its story on the census citizenship question at least 10 times in four months

Washington Post logoOriginally, it was supposed to help the Justice Department enforce the Voting Rights Act. Then the Supreme Court said that was a pretext.

It would not be used for immigration enforcement. Then it could be used to deal with the “burden” of undocumented immigrants.

It would not be used for congressional redistricting. Then it could be.

View the complete July 8 article by JM Rieger on The Washington Post website here.

ABC host pounds DHS chief after he claims reports of mistreated migrant children are ‘unsubstantiated’

AlterNet logoDepartment of Homeland Security acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Sunday insisted that multiple reports about the treatment of migrant children at detention facilities are “unsubstantiated.”

In an interview on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz asked why he had refuted a New York Times report which found that children are being mistreated at migrant detention facilities.

“Why did you call those allegations unsubstantiated?” Raddatz asked.

“Because there’s adequate food and water,” McAleenan argued. “Because the facility is cleaned every day. Because I know what our standards are and I know they are being followed. Because we have tremendous levels of oversight — five levels of oversight.”

View the complete July 7 article by David Edwards from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

‘A ‘A Constant Game of Musical Chairs’ Amid Another Homeland Security Shake-Up

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Turmoil intensified on Tuesday inside the agency responsible for securing the country’s borders as a top official was replaced by an immigration hard-liner and former Fox News contributor who last week pushed for nationwide raids to deport undocumented families.

That hard-liner, Mark Morgan, will take over as the head of Customs and Border Protection, administration officials said Tuesday.

The move again overhauls leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for cybersecurity, disaster relief and the enforcement of customs, border and immigration law, just two months after a purge of officials destabilized the agency.

View the complete June 25 article by Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Maggie Haberman on The New York Times website here.

Over 200 Allegations Of Abuse Of Migrant Children — And One DHS Employee Disciplined

From 2009 to 2014, at least 214 complaints were filed against federal agents for abusing or mistreating migrant children. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s records, only one employee was disciplined as a result of a complaint.

The department’s records, which have alarmed advocates for migrants given the more aggressive approach to the treatment of minors at the border under the current administration, emerged as part of a federal lawsuit seeking the release of the names of the accused agents.

Last month, attorneys for DHS argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that disclosing the names of the federal agents would infringe on their right to privacy. A district judge had earlier ordered the department to make the names public.

View the complete June 1 article by A.C. Thompson on the National Memo website here.