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Kevin K. McAleenan, US Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, to become Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, President Trump says in a tweet on Sunday.
The announcement was made shortly after Trump announced that Kirstjen Nielsen was leaving his post, thus ending a tumultuous mandate at the head of the agency, responsible in particular for border security. She had taken the job at the end of 2017.
Mr. McAleenan, 47, will oversee an agency that has sometimes been the target of President's dissatisfaction with the increase in the number of migrants entering the United States illegally on the southwestern border.
"I am confident that Kevin will do a great job!" Said Mr Trump in his tweet.
In her resignation letter, Ms. Nielsen stated that she hoped that the new secretary "would have the support of Congress and the courts to lay down laws that have hindered our ability to fully secure US borders and that have contributed to discord in the discourse of our nation ".
Mr. McAleenan holds a law degree from the University of Chicago and practiced law in California prior to working for the government. He held various positions at the border protection agency before becoming Deputy Commissioner in 2014 under the Obama administration. He won the highest honor of the country's public service, the Presidential Rank Award, in 2015.
Mr. McAleenan became Acting Commissioner of the Agency in January 2017 and was officially sworn in March 2018. He focused on counterterrorism, border security and law enforcement. has overseen approximately 60,000 employees and managed a budget of more than $ 13 billion, according to the agency.
As the chief border police officer in the United States, Mr. McAleenan also helped implement the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy to prosecute parents who illegally crossed the border, resulting in family separations. This policy has been reversed, but the effects remain. In court papers filed Friday, the government said it could run out two years before federal officials identify thousands of immigrant children separated from their families at the border.
In an interview in August, Mr. McAleenan said that "a better system would allow us to keep families together throughout the immigration process, which takes an average of 45 days."
He added that there should be a penalty for illegal crossing of the border.
"It's not a crime without a victim," he said. "Not only the people in danger, but also our agents who must apprehend them or save them. It is also a diversionary tactic for smugglers who use family groups to arrest our agents while the drugs are routed behind them. "
Mr. McAleenan said that his job as commissioner of the agency was to enforce the laws and not to enact them.
Last month, Mr. McAleenan was the public face of new government data showing that unauthorized entries to the Southwest border reached a record number; More than 76,000 migrants crossed the border without authorization in February, the highest level in 11 years.
"The system far exceeds its capacity and remains at the breaking point," he told reporters, adding that "it is clearly both a border security and a humanitarian crisis."
During a hearing before the Senate last month, he suggested ways to remedy this crisis: the US government should help the Central American governments to improve their economic prospects in this country, and collaborate with them. Mexican authorities to suppress transnational criminal organizations migrants.
"And we need to invest in border security," he said. "A modern border barrier system, additional agents and agents, additional technology at the points of entry and between them, as well as air and sea support. And we must also take a whole-of-government approach to address the unique medical needs of children and the undeniable humanitarian challenges we face. "
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