Thanks to you and millions of other voters, Chad Wolf’s days as unlawfully appointed acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary will be coming to an end soon. No more cosplaying at U.S. taxpayer expense, no more demonizing immigrants at U.S. taxpayer expense, no more terrorizing communities at taxpayer expense.
But just because he’ll be out of a government job come January doesn’t mean the Trump administration has stopped trying to legitimize his illegitimate appointment.
After finally submitting his official nomination in August, passing that nomination through committee by a strict party line vote in September (where he again lied to senators), and then basically forgetting about it, CNN reports Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been approached about continuing to advance Unlawful Chad’s nomination to a full vote, “a move seemingly acknowledging both a forthcoming change in administrations and criticism that Wolf's appointment was invalid,” the report said.
The Trump administration officially submitted Unlawful Chad’s nomination only because his unlawful appointment risks any policy he’s signed his name to. And there have been quite a few consequential items. Just days ago, a coalition of states in fact sued Unlawful Chad over changes further decimating the popular and successful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, saying he “lacked the legal authority to issue the memo ... because he was never validly appointed to his position.”
It’s going to be work for the incoming Biden administration to reverse many of the outgoing administration’s immigration policies, but experts have noted that some of that could be eased because many of the policies have been found unlawful in court. In the case of the policy making it harder for working immigrant families to access green cards, “Biden’s attorney general could drop the appeal, letting stand the federal judge’s ruling that the Trump administration unlawfully created the public charge rule,” the American Immigration Lawyers Association said according to USA Today.
"To make a long story short,” University of Texas law school professor Steve Vladeck said according to CNN, “I think the effort to have him confirmed is principally with an eye toward attempting to ratify all of the programs and policies that could be struck down by courts holding his acting appointment was unlawful.”
Unlawful Chad didn’t deserve to be officially confirmed a year ago and he certainly doesn’t deserve to be confirmed now. The only reason why his name should come up in Congress is relating to investigations into his criminal behavior.