Campaign Action
According to the Washington Post, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly took it upon himself to carry out a little political interference and call acting Department of Homeland Security Sec. Elaine Duke from Donald Trump’s Asia trip to complain she isn’t deporting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients quickly enough:
On Monday, as the Department of Homeland Security prepared to extend the residency permits of tens of thousands of Honduran immigrants living in the United States, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called Acting Secretary Elaine Duke to pressure her to expel them, according to current and former administration officials.
Duke refused to reverse her decision and was angered by what she felt was a politically driven intrusion by Kelly and Tom Bossert, the White House homeland security adviser, who also called her about the matter, according to officials with knowledge of Monday’s events, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Duke already announced the end of TPS—created for people whose nations are facing “ongoing violence, disasters, or conditions that make their return impossible”—for thousands of Nicaraguans but delayed a decision for nearly 60,000 Hondurans. What happens with TPS is ultimately Duke’s call, but Kelly, Donald Trump’s mass deportation accomplice when he was at DHS, reportedly pressured her to the point that she may leave DHS as soon as a permanent secretary is confirmed:
White House officials said Kelly acknowledged during the call that the decision was Duke’s to make. But she felt the pressure amounted to a direct intervention in the process, administration officials said.
Duke, a DHS veteran, has informed Kelly she will resign once Nielsen takes over, according to several officials, even though Trump has publicly asked her to remain in the deputy role.
But Kelly is the adult in the room, right? Remember, this is exactly who he is—an extremist, a mass deportation accomplice, and an authoritarian who will twist arms if it means making America white. This is an awful human being with vast power. Sounds familiar, minus the whole military service part.