Anti-Trump Head Of U.S. Citizenship And Immigration Services To Be Replaced By Hawk Ken Cuccinelli
By JonDougherty
Fed up with deep state bureaucrats who are thwarting his ability to move forward with much-needed reforms immigration and asylum reforms, POTUS Donald Trump has reportedly asked L. Francis Cissna, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, to resign.
According to the Washington Post, Cissna will be out by June 1 and replaced by Ken Cuccinelli, a former attorney general for Virginia who once noted that the waves of migrant caravans crushing U.S. borders were akin to “invading hordes.”
Reports noted that the president’s key adviser, Stephen Miller, has been agitating for Cissna’s removal for months because the USCIS director has never been on board with POTUS’ immigration and asylum agenda.
Worse, he has slow-walked or intentionally delayed some of the president’s agenda items and plans from moving forward — an intolerable act for Trump.
Cissna’s departure is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to replace people the president feels are not ‘suited’ to his agenda or to the enforcement of his plans. The president sought the resignation earlier this year of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen after he lost confidence in her.
However, Cuccinelli may have a difficult path ahead. The Post notes that his nomination may be opposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) because Cuccinelli lead a 2014 effort to unseat incumbent Republicans by backing insurgent GOP candidates in defiance of McConnell.
Also, “Cuccinelli signed a letter drafted by conservative activists two years ago calling on McConnell to step aside,” the Post reported. Cuccinelli would have to be confirmed by the Senate to move into the post.
Still, McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao — Labor secretary under George W. Bush — is in the president’s Cabinet as secretary of Transportation. So that could work for Cuccinelli or against him, depending upon which way McConnell wants to play it.
Also, Cuccinelli has the right mindset for the job under President Trump. During an interview with Breitbart Radio in 2018, he discussed the migrant caravans thusly:
First of all, we’ve been being invaded for a long time and so the border states clearly qualify here to utilize this power themselves. And what’s interesting is they don’t need anyone’s permission. They can do it themselves. And because they’re acting under war powers, there’s no due process.
They can literally just line their National Guard up with, presumably with riot gear like they would if they had a civil disturbance and turn people back at the border. Literally, you don’t have to keep them, no catch and release, no nothing. You just point them back across the river and let them swim for it.
Maybe you have a little courtesy shuttle and drive them over and leave them there. And the states can do that, interestingly enough, and the federal government can’t. But it really becomes a question of do they want to utilize this power or not.
Pretty tough words, but given the crisis at the border and the fact that the president has declared it to be a national emergency, ‘drastic times call for drastic measures.
And if Cuccinelli can get in, he’ll be the right man for the right job at the right time.
This article originally appeared at The National Sentinel and was republished with permission.
