WASHINGTON, D.C.—Rep. Greg Stanton today issued the following statement regarding the President’s decision to promote acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Mark Morgan to Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection:
“There is a humanitarian crisis at our border, and the Administration’s latest leadership change will throw the agency responsible into further chaos. This alarming, ideological choice doubles down on an ineffective and inhumane agenda.”
Morgan was previously fired by the President during his first stint as Border Patrol chief, and then hired last month as acting ICE director before this most recent promotion. According to The New York Times, “The White House in recent months has installed multiple officials at the department who have gone on television to support Mr. Trump’s more aggressive immigration policies, using certain officials to knock out others without any clear vision for homeland security.”
Morgan is a former Fox News contributor and has said he can identify whether a young person will become a gang member by looking into their eyes.
Currently, each Homeland Security agency responsible for enforcing immigration policy—Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services—is led by an acting official who has not been confirmed by the Senate.
The latest leadership shuffle is taking place amid disorder within the Administration’s law enforcement ranks and a struggle to maintain humanitarian conditions for migrants at the Southern border. Earlier this week, 249 children housed at an unsanitary makeshift detention facility in Texas were hastily relocated to other facilities after allegations came to light that minors were being housed without adequate food or access to soap and toothpaste. Yesterday, 100 of those children were moved back, calling into question the Administration’s lack of strategy or concern over the standard of care.