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WASHINGTON – President Trump has decided Monday to replace the top officials of the Department of Homeland Security, a day after forcing the resignation of his secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, while he accelerated the purge of the country's authorities in matters of security. immigration and security.
The White House has announced the departure of Randolph D. Alles, director of the secret services, who has fallen out of favor with the president even before an attack on the safety of his club in Mar-a-Lago, that the agency has actually put on Mr. Trump's account. employees.
Government officials, who asked not to be identified during discussions of staff changes prior to their announcement, said at least two other senior government officials should also leave soon: L. Francis Cissna, head of services United States Citizenship and Immigration, and John Mitnick, Departmental General Counsel and senior manager of Ms. Nielsen's leadership team.
The latest reshuffle took place just a day after Trump kicked out Ms. Nielsen at a meeting Sunday afternoon at the White House for not doing enough to protect the border. Three days after Ronald D. Vitiello, Acting Director of the Immigration and Customs Service and President's Candidate for Vacancies, was invited to step down so that the administration could take a "more difficult direction", such as Mr. Trump pointed out. Put the.
The wave of departures of officials initially installed by Mr. Trump seemed to reflect his growing frustration with the treatment of his administration through immigration and other security issues. In recent days, Trump has threatened to completely close the Southwest border for the sole purpose of backtracking and giving a one-year warning to Mexico over worries over the economic consequences of the economic crisis. such a move.
The latest moves also appeared to involve officials associated with John F. Kelly, former Chief of Staff to the President and Chief Secretary of Homeland Security, who was expelled at the end of last year after months of tension with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Alles, a retired naval general who spent for Tex and who was the first outsider to run the agency in more than a century, was instructed to has 10 days to prepare an exit plan. on its own schedule, according to officials familiar with the discussions. The president had mistreated Mr. Alles some time ago, even mocking his appearance, calling Dumbo because of his ears, said two officials.
The instruction to form an exit plan came before the arrest of a Chinese man wearing an anti-malware device in Mar-a-Lago, thus revealing flaws in private club security. The secret services were so troubled that they issued a statement reproaching Mar-a-Lago staff for not watching his guests closely enough.
Some secret service officials said Monday that they suspected that Alles' departure had been accelerated in part because of this episode.
The White House did not mention that in its statement announcing the departure of Mr. Alles.
Mr. Alles "has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is grateful for his 40 years of service in the country," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, press officer for the House Blanche, in his release.
She said that he would be replaced in May by James M. Murray, a career secret service official who served as assistant deputy director of protection operations.
Ms. Nielsen will be replaced by Kevin McAleenan, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.
Addressing reporters on Monday, Ms. Nielsen has not regretted her departure and thanked Mr. Trump for "the tremendous opportunity" to serve his country and departmental employees for their efforts to secure it. .
"I share the President's goal of securing the border," she said. "I will continue to support all efforts to resolve the humanitarian and security crisis at the border. And other than that, I will continue to do what I can for the next few days. "
But in recent weeks, Mr. Trump had asked Ms. Nielsen to close the ports of entry along the border and stop accepting asylum seekers, which she had found ineffective and inappropriate, according to people informed conversations.
She has been the victim of presidential anger for months. She arrived at the White House with a list of changes that, in her opinion, needed to be made to continue in that position, but Mr. Trump was determined to fire her. As one administration official said, they had different meetings in mind when they sat alone for 30 minutes at the White House with only Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff. of the White House.
Congress leaders were left Monday to try to sort out the changes and their significance.
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson and the Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee complained about "Congressional malfunction" in dealing with border security. important issues facing the country. "
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