While unlawfully appointed Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf has finally, finally left the office he had unlawfully occupied for over a year, he’s remained at the department as under secretary of the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans. Unlike his acting secretary appointment, this office has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate—and he’s using that office in a last-ditch ploy to save anti-immigrant policies at risk due to his unlawful status.
Axios reports that the acting DHS secretary until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in next week, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Pete Gaynor, issued a memo supposedly allowing Unlawful Chad some sort of re-do, including ratifying policies to “[f]ast-track deportations by ICE, raising fees for immigration benefits, restricting asylum, and limiting work permits for asylum seekers, among others,” BuzzFeed News’ Hamed Aleaziz tweeted.
Recall that the courts forced the Trump administration to reinstate policies like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program because Unlawful Chad lacked the authority to change it. Following his resignation, experts had worried that Gaynor would possibly try a redo—and for a moment it looked like he wouldn’t—but it looks like he instead just left the dirty work to Unlawful Chad.
Whether it all holds up, I can’t say myself. But let’s check out what people who know a whole lot more than me think about all this:
“Nothing that this cosplay manservant of our twice-impeached President is legitimate. Starting with his appointment,” Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar tweeted.
Unlawful Chad has also since taken up his rehabilitation campaign following his resignation as acting secretary, claiming to ABC News that Trump’s words “matter and they do. He certainly has some level of responsibility for at least the words that he said. I've talked about my disappointment in wishing that he had come out sooner to condemn the violence and just talk more vocally about that.” Just truly, truly amazing how they get so direct when it’s too late.