DHS House-Cleaning, Immigration Crackdown Coming as Re-Election Campaign Ramps Up?

TED HESSON, ANITA KUMAR and NANCY COOk on Politico look at President Donald Trump’s “dramatic purge of Homeland Security leaders” and observe that “[i]t helps clear the way for him to take controversial new steps to curb illegal immigration, including an updated version of his furiously criticized family separation policy.”

Leading the charge is Trump’s top White House immigration aide Stephen Miller. Miller wants to force migrant parents arrested at the border to choose between splitting apart from their children or remaining together indefinitely in detention while awaiting court proceedings, according to people familiar with the plans. Those hard-line policies could get new traction after the recebt major staffing shakeup at the Homeland Security Department. Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned and Secret Service Director Randolph Alles was ousted. Those moves came after the White House last week abruptly withdrew its nominee for director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ronald Vitiello.

Other officials could be on the chopping block in coming days, according to three other people familiar with the White House’s considerations. The dramatic proposals and leadership purge are politically risky — family separation has sparked more political anger than almost any other issue in Trump’s presidency. But Trump is determined to make immigration central to his reelection push.

KJ