Trump's DHS purges the Republicans

Donald Trump's congressional allies are alarmed at the cleansing of the Department of Homeland Security – urging him not to dismiss other senior officials – and reminding him of how difficult it will be to resolve two border crises and agencies federal departments responsible for immigration policy.

The president's four-day frenzy by President DHS and other agencies has blinded high-ranking Republicans who are already fearful of difficult confirmation battles. Some are worried about the growing influence of Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the White House. And after the November elections in which suburban voters rejected Trump's radical immigration program, the president again made it the centerpiece of the GOP platform.

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"It's a mess," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), summing up the dynamics at the border and in Washington.

Republicans point out that the president has the right to send back whoever he wants, but few have offered an explicit defense of his decisions to overthrow DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, to get their hands on the choice of immigration and Customs, to dismiss the Director of the Secret Service and to threaten other dismissals.

"It just seems like a frustration that I can not solve a problem. Honestly, it's not the fault of Secretary Nielsen. It was not for lack of effort on his part. I do not know if it's possible to do more, "said Cornyn, who spoke with Nielsen on Monday and planned to speak to his acting replacement Kevin McAleenan later that day.

Cornyn said he had no idea of ​​Miller's "program" in determining immigration policy as it was not confirmed by the Senate and did not fit the hill.

"I thought Nielsen was doing a fantastic job," added Joni Ernst, of Iowa, leader of the GOP in Senate, No. 5. "I'd love to see continuity. I think it is important. "

Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the GOP's oldest senator, is trying to avoid even more layoffs, while Trump is trying to turn DHS into a "harder" mold.

In an interview, Grassley expressed concern that Trump would be ready to start US Director of Citizenship and Immigration, Lee Francis Cissna, and Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, who heads the Bureau of Policy and Policy. USCIS strategy.

"I heard that they were on the list of people to send back," Grassley said. "They do intellectually what the president wants to accomplish. So no, they should not go.

Republicans understand Trump's frustrations on the border and the slow pace of Congress on changing immigration laws. They especially supported him when his government closed his government for 35 days on the wall of the border, only collapsing when the stalemate was prolonged in his second month.

Most of them hated his emergency declaration on the southern border, but only 25 GOP deputies between the two chambers ended up hitting him. And when Trump and Miller sought to find a compromise on immigration last year, Republican members of the Senate largely rallied to the president and let the Democrats keep the bag of collapse legislative.

But on immigration, the party is not up to Trump. So, even if the president pursues more aggressive strategies at the border, the GOP may not follow him before an election cycle that will put the Senate at stake and Republicans eager to regain power.

"He thinks it's a winning question," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican whip. "It works for him. It may not work for everyone.

The ousting of Nielsen was not a shock. It had been months since the White House told her stories that she could be fired because of Trump's growing frustration at the growing number of border crossings.

But Republicans said they did not like it being dropped.

"Nielsen was doing his best. It can not force Congress out of its icy, lazy buttocks and correct asylum laws. She can not build a wall by herself. It can not make the Central American countries work with us. … only the president can do it, "said Senator John Kennedy (R-La.). "If someone quits and the White House staff cuts it up, I just think it's classless."

On Monday, Trump found few allies in his decision to get rid of Nielsen, with the exception of Congressional Democrats who saw her as the face of the government's policy of separation of families and wanted her to leave.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) Admitted the evidence in a written statement: "I am concerned about a growing void of leadership" at DHS.

Most Republicans loved Nielsen and thought they got an impossible job. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Has enthusiastically praised the Senate for his "experienced and consistent leadership".

"I understand Trump's frustration," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Who supported the president's efforts to "get things done" at DHS. "Honestly, I do not know if there is a design. It was said that there would be new policies and proposals, but I do not know yet what they are. "

GOP centrist spokesman Will Hurd, who was narrowly re-elected in 2018, said the turnover in the upper ranks of the DHS was not useful during a critical period on the southern border, although the Texan expressed its trust in Nielsen's successor.

"When you're dealing with something worse than we've seen for 12 or 13 years, it's still difficult to deal with this problem and bring in new people." extends along the US-Mexico border.

The GOP's moderate representative, Tom Reed of New York, said he would prefer to focus on issues such as infrastructure, drug prices and health care in the 2020 election cycle, saying the Immigration issue is maintained "for political purposes".

Reed also launched a veiled shot at Miller: "Only one hard will not dictate the result of this."

But the advent of Miller in the Trump administration is just another sign of how the president is moving towards the restrictive wing of his party.

"The president is really dissatisfied with the results and he is trying to find a different formula that would produce a different result," said Roy Blunt of Missouri, leader of the GOP in the Senate, number 4. "Unless you change the direction of the court or the asylum law, it is very difficult to find a solution quickly. And the president is frustrated by that. "

The problem for Trump is that it will not happen any time soon. Congressional hesitations on immigration over the past six years since the Senate passed its comprehensive immigration bill, titled "The Gang of Eight," which died in the House, did not are not surprising.

The bipartisan talks in the Senate last year were splashed. The discussions between the Sense. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) And Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on the crisis of family migration have come to nothing. It is therefore easy for the president and his closest confidants to blame the hill.

This is what the leader of the parliamentary minority Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Did during an interview Monday.

"Congress is also responsible for acting here. That's where you have to pass a law, "he said, echoing Trump's call for recasting US asylum legislation.

"What the president is doing is seeing the crisis and trying to solve the problem," McCarthy said. "He's trying to put the right people in the right positions."

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.