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Ken Cuccinelli, seen here in 2016, was named Monday at the head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, responsible for ruling on applications for citizenship, green cards and visas.
Molly Riley / AP
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Molly Riley / AP
Ken Cuccinelli, seen here in 2016, was named Monday at the head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, responsible for ruling on applications for citizenship, green cards and visas.
Molly Riley / AP
The Trump administration has appointed Ken Cuccinelli as interim director of the agency responsible for legal immigration, raising concerns among immigrant rights advocates.
Cuccinelli has never worked at the agency that he is now in charge of directing. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which has more than 19,000 employees and contractors, are responsible for ruling on applications for citizenship, green cards and visas.
"Our country has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promises to those who come here legally," Cuccinelli said in a written statement. "I look forward to working with the men and women of the USCIS to ensure that our legal immigration system operates effectively and efficiently while deterring fraud and protecting the American people."
Cuccinelli is often invited to cable television, where he is known for his radical positions on asylum and other issues related to immigration. He served as Virginia's Attorney General from 2010 to 2014 and unsuccessfully ran for the position of governor of the state.
Immigration lawyers are concerned that the appointment of Mr. Cuccinelli will result in more scrutiny and longer wait times for immigrants seeking citizenship, green cards, and more. of visas.
"Are they trying to break the system so that it does not work?" Asked Ur Jaddou, former USCIS chief counsel, who now heads the organization on purpose non-profit DHS Watch in Washington. "This is only another sign of what has happened in the last two years," said Jaddou, while the backlog of immigration records from all kinds has "exploded".
Cuccinelli argued for the denial of citizenship to US-born children of parents living illegally in the United States. And he argued that states should invoke "war powers" to give up what he calls an "invasion" of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States.
"You do not have to keep them," Cuccinelli said during a talk with Breitbart Radio last year. "No catch-no-no, you just send them back to the other side of the river and let them swim for that."
The Trump administration chose Cuccinelli to lead the USCIS despite opposition from Republicans to the Senate. Cuccinelli has been chairman of a conservative group that has funded campaigns against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others, and several Republican senators have said that they "re going to the polls. would oppose his appointment to the direction of the agency.
The White House has not officially named Cuccinelli as head of the USCIS. Technically, his title will be "Senior Assistant Director", according to the agency.
Legal experts say this would allow Cuccinelli to assume the duties of Acting Director under the Federal Vacancy Reform Act. But that would violate the spirit of the law, according to Anne Joseph O. Connell, an expert in administrative law at Stanford Law School.
"It seems like a late race," said O. Connell. "Not just around the Senate confirmation process, where senators said they did not want to confirm Mr. Cuccinelli, but that also seems to be an end-to-end job vacancy law."
The appointment of Cuccinelli means there will be acting leaders at the head of the USCIS, the US Customs and Border Protection, the US Immigration and Customs Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. as well as a secretary for internal security.
Cuccinelli's predecessor at USCIS, the former director, L. Francis Cissna, had years of experience in immigration law and was widely regarded as a fool. Even some immigration supporters are wondering if Cuccinelli is ready for the job.
"Cuccinelli was an unusual choice, given his lack of experience in immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors lower immigration levels. "But he has experience in the field of law enforcement and regulation, so I'm cautiously optimistic, especially with the support of the White House in his interactions within his agency and with other agencies. "
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