Kevin McAleenan, a career civil servant who became the unlikely point man for President Donald Trumps hardline immigration policies, is stepping down as acting Homeland Security secretary after six months on the job.
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McAleenan told The Associated Press he was leaving on his own terms – a contrast to other top administration officials pushed out during Trumps tenure. But his departure ends an awkward period of leadership – one in which McAleenan delighted Trump by getting border crossing numbers to fall yet remained an outsider in an administration where top figures – including in his own department – were brash Trump supporters popular on conservative media.
A White House official with knowledge of the decision confirmed that it was McAleenans decision. The official wasnt authorized to speak publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. Trump tweeted that McAleenan was leaving to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector.
No replacement was yet named at the department, which has seen its ranks decimated through firings and resignations. The acting DHS deputy secretary is the head of the Transportation Security Administration.
And it creates yet another top-level vacancy in Trumps Cabinet – at the department responsible not only for immigration enforcement but also for helping states secure elections.
“We have worked well together with Border Crossings being Way down,” Trump tweeted of McAleenan.
McAleenan tweeted that he had worked – with the presidents support – to help stem the border crisis and that he would help ensure a smooth transition at DHS.
“I want to thank the President for the opportunity to serve the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security,” McAleenan wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called McAleenans departure “the latest sign of this Administrations failed leadership, which has worsened the humanitarian situation at the border, and injected pain and tragedy into countless lives.”
McAleenan took over in April after Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen quit. Trump said hed name a replacement in the coming week, the fifth leader of DHS in two years.
The 240,000-person department is tasked with election security and cybersecurity, disaster response and even the Secret Service. But in Trumps world, Homeland Security means one thing: immigration. The presidents signature issue makes the department his focus and his ire. Balancing a White House eager to push major changes with the reality on the ground is a constant challenge.
McAleenan, who has years of experience with border issues, was seen in Trumps circle as someone who could get control over the crisis, despite his stance as a moderate Democrat who pushed for aid to be restored to Central American nations.
He was among those behind the administrations widely maligned practice of separating families at the border last year, though McAleenan later said he regretted the policy because it lost the public trust.
He also expanded a program where asylum seekers are forced to wait their claims out in Mexico; more than 42,000 migrants have been subjected to it. And most recently, the administration made migrants ineligible for asylum if they crossed through a third country on their way to the U.S.
And he brokered major agreements with Central American countries on asylum and border security – something others were unable to do.
Alan Bersin, who worked closely with McAleenan in the Obama administration, said he did his job effectively in three administrations, Republican and Democrat, but was done in by a polarizing environment and lack of White House support.
“He did his best as a professional public servant but those qualities are not prized in this administration,” said Bersin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary for international affairs and Customs and Border Protection commissioner under Obama.
Bersin credited McAleenans close work with Mexico for helping lower border arrests from May peaks.
Earlier this spring, shortly before McAleenan took over, he stood in El Paso as U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner and warned that the border had reached a breaking point, with tens of thousands of Central American families crossing and border facilities unable to keep up.
It got worse – reports of children being held in squalid conditions for weeks at border facilities, young mothers with no medical care for theirRead More – Source
