The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is calling for an emergency review of newly installed Department of Homeland Security leadership, writing that the Trump administration “may have violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Homeland Security Act” in naming Chad Wolf as acting secretary and Ken Cuccinelli as acting deputy secretary of the department last month. “The CHC is gravely concerned that DHS’s top officials may be serving in violation of the law,” the CHC tells the Government Accountability Office comptroller general, “and will continue to do so until the GAO makes a determination.”
Wolf was sworn in even after lying under oath to senators about his role in the barbaric “zero tolerance” policy that resulted in the state-sanctioned kidnapping of thousands of children at the southern U.S. border. During a hearing this past June, Wolf replied, “No, ma’am,” when Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen asked him if had a hand in creating it, but internal emails say otherwise. Cuccinelli, meanwhile, saw his ICE agent cosplay pay off, when the anti-immigrant loudmouth was installed to the number two position at Homeland Security after helping to wreak havoc on the lives of asylum-seekers while leading U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Combined, these two stand to make Homeland Security a whole lot worse—and they may possibly be there illegally, the members say. They join House Homeland Security chair Bennie Thompson and House Oversight and Reform acting chair Carolyn Maloney, who last month called for an urgent Government Accountability Office review. “These maneuvers are part of a troubling pattern of legal contortions, as well as an end-run around the Senate’s constitutional Advice and Consent power,” they wrote. “This administration has hollowed out Department leadership, with frequent leadership turnover and abuse of the authority to appoint temporary acting officials. These actions place our nation’s security at risk.”
And the security of the most vulnerable: the administration has implemented a new rule sending people seeking asylum to Guatemala since Wolf and Cuccinelli’s appointments. “The Department, at the direction of agency leadership, continues to introduce consequential policy although their decisions may be in legal jeopardy,” the Hispanic Caucus continued. “Therefore, the CHC joins Chairman Thompson and Chairwoman Maloney in urging an expedited review to resolve whether Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli are legally serving in their respective positions.”