UNITED STATES
The game of musical chairs in the US Public Service has continued with the announcement that Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, Kevin K. McAleenan (pictured) will become Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The announcement, in a tweet by President, Donald Trump, came shortly after the President said that Kirstjen Nielsen was leaving the position, ending a tumultuous tenure in charge of the Agency, which oversees border security, among other duties.
A day after Ms Nielsen resigned, Director of the Secret Service, Randolph “Tex” Alles also quit, with a number of media outlets reporting he had been ousted.
That announcement followed the arrest of a Chinese woman who allegedly breached security at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort by carrying multiple electronic devices.
Mr McAleenan (47) will oversee an Agency that has at times been a target of Mr Trump’s dissatisfaction over the increase of migrants illegally entering the US at its south western border.
In her resignation letter, Ms Nielsen said she hoped the incoming Secretary would “have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse”.
In his previous job as the nation’s top border enforcement officer, Mr McAleenan also helped carry out the Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy to prosecute parents caught crossing the border illegally, which led to family separations.
Washington, DC, 8 April 2019
