House Committees Launch Probe of Firings at Homeland Security

The recent spate of firings of confirmed, acting and nominated leaders at the Homeland Security Department prompted key House Democratic committee chairmen to formally demand documents on the reported influence of Stephen Miller, President Trump’s chief immigration policy adviser.

In a letter sent Thursday to acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, the chairs of the Oversight, the Judiciary and Homeland Security panels warned that “the firing and forced resignation of these officials puts the security of the American people at risk.” Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.; Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; said: “We are also concerned that the president may have removed DHS officials because they refused his demands to violate federal immigration law and judicial orders.”

They then described the circumstances that brought the abrupt departures of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles, DHS Undersecretary for Management Claire Grady (a career official), and acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ronald Vitiello.

“Moreover, we are concerned by reports that, even as he has removed the department’s leadership, the president has sought to empower a White House aide, Stephen Miller, to be in charge of handling all immigration and border affairs,” the letter stated. The lawmakers linked the departures to a series of reports suggesting resistance to the White House policy—which they called illegal—of pursuing such controversial steps as closing the Port of El Paso, restarting child separations among arriving migrants, and denying entry to all asylum seekers.

Miller, they charged, has been calling and pressuring DHS officials to get in line, in one case reportedly intervening in an immigration case and seeking the individual’s deportation.

Miller had been invited by Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Cummings to testify before his panel on May 1, but the White House rejected that plan. In an April 24 reply to Cummings, with a copy to ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Counsel to the President Pat Cipollone wrote, “In accordance with long-standing precedent, we respectfully decline the invitation to make Mr. Miller available for testimony before the committee. The precedent for members of the White House staff to decline invitations to testify before congressional committees has been consistently adhered to by administrations of both political parties, and is based on clearly established constitutional doctrines.”

Citing the administration’s efforts to address border security, the counsel added that testimony by “executive branch officials with responsibilities defined by statute would be a reasonable accommodation to the committee's questions and legislative goals.”

Addressing the shakeup at the top level, DHS press secretary Tyler Houlton said: "Under no circumstances is the safety or security of the United States at risk during a leadership transition at DHS. The department has successfully overseen the transition between a half-dozen secretaries over the course of our 16-year history. At this time, the overwhelming majority of the senior positions at DHS are filled with either Senate confirmed or presidentially appointed officials or someone pending a Senate confirmation." 

The committee chairs said they were also worried by reports that, as advised by Miller, Trump was considering firing DHS General Counsel John Mitnick and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna. They demanded, by May 9, all communications on the officials mentioned from Jan. 1 to the present, as well as those involving USCIS Chief Counsel Craig Symons, former ICE acting deputy director Matthew Albence and USCIS Policy and Strategy Chief Kathy Nuebel Kovarik.

They also sought “all communications with Stephen Miller.”