Senate

Senate Dems to DHS: Hand over documents on Trump’s immigration chief

by Jordain Carney - 04/27/18 3:04 PM ET

Senate Democrats are demanding the Department of Homeland Security hand over information on President Trump’s long-stalled nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Democrats sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asking for any documentation tied to Tom Homan’s nomination to be the director of ICE “so that the Senate can consider Mr. Homan’s nomination without further delay.”

“The absence of a Senate-confirmed head of ICE for more than a year … is completely unacceptable at a time when the Trump Administration is making radical – and in some cases possibly illegal – changes in immigration enforcement policies and practices,” they wrote.

Eighteen Democrats — including Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the Democratic whip — signed onto the letter. {mosads}

Homan was nominated to lead ICE in November after being appointed as acting director in January, which Democrats say is a “potential violation” of a federal law on how the president can temporarily fill vacant executive agency positions.

“[It] raises serious questions about the legality of Mr. Homan’s actions as the acting head of ICE,” they added.

Spokespeople for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), the top Democrat on the panel, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Homan’s nomination.

“Senate Democrats should be sending Tom Homan a thank you letter for all that he and ICE have done to protect the safety of our communities across the country,” DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton said in a statement.

Though Homan has functionally led the agency, his position is “deputy director and senior official performing the duties of the director,” which, according to DHS, means his nomination complies with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

But Homan’s views on immigration, which align with Trump’s, would likely make him a controversial pick to be cleared by the Senate.

Democrats added in their letter that the administration could be concerned about the “possibility that Mr. Homan’s nomination could be defeated in the Senate.”

In June, Homan told Congress that immigrants in the U.S. illegally “should be concerned” about being deported. He said separately that cities that don’t comply with federal immigration laws “pose a threat to the American public.”

Republicans have a slim 51-seat majority and several GOP senators disagree with the administration’s immigration strategy.

Updated: 6:45 p.m.