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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 6 april 2019

Trump sidelines immigration

nominee for ‘tougher direction’

By COLLEEN LONG and JILL ello thanked the president he never seemed totally in
COLVIN and members of Congress his element. He ran afoul of
Associated Press for their support. some of the union leader-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The “No matter the external ship, which opposed him
notice to Congress from circumstances, I am grate- in part because they said
the White House was met ful knowing you remain en- he was disingenuous. Union
with confusion: Why would gaged and dedicated to leader Chris Crane wrote a
President Donald Trump the critical work of protect- letter to the senators saying
withdraw his nominee to ing our communities from citing certain tweets Vitiello
In this Nov. 9, 2018 file photo, acting ICE director Ron Vitiello lead U.S. Immigration and the transnational criminal made from a private ac-
speaks during an interview in Richmond, Va. Customs Enforcement? organizations and cross- count, arguing he “lacks
Associated Press Longtime border official border crime that threat- the judgment and profes-
Ron Vitiello appeared to ens our nation,” he wrote. sionalism to effectively lead
be cruising toward confir- “While I will not become a federal agency.”
mation. One Senate com- the permanent director of He took over during a time
mittee had endorsed his ICE, I look forward to work- of heightened scrutiny of
nomination and a second ing alongside you in serving the agency. Part of its mis-
was likely to follow suit de- the American public with sion is to arrest immigrants
spite opposition from some Integrity, Courage, and Ex- who are in the U.S. ille-
Democrats and a union cellence.” gally, and that has made
representing some agency Six government and con- the agency a symbol of
officers. gressional officials involved Trump’s policies and a tar-
No one in the Department in immigration issues sug- get for Democrats.
of Homeland Security, gested the decision to drop Trump has been railing
which oversees the immi- Vitiello could be an impul- against increasing border
gration agency, had been sive staff shake-up driven crossings, as well as the
notified about the inten- by the fact that White release of thousands of
tion to remove Vitiello from House policies intended migrants into the U.S. be-
consideration, according to stop migrants have not cause of a lack of space
to people familiar with the succeeded. Many blamed to hold them, a move he
decision. Officials at Home- Stephen Miller, the influ- derides as “catch and re-
land Security and congres- ential West Wing aide, for lease.”
sional aides thought it must the decision on Vitiello and It’s a battle cry on a signa-
have been a paperwork saw it as part of a plan to ture issue for the president,
error made by the White replace longtime immigra- who wants to restrict immi-
House personnel office that tion officials with hard-liners gration but whose policies
would be resolved quickly. who appealed more to have largely failed to do
Turns out, it wasn’t a mis- allies of Trump and Miller. so. But in recent months,
take. It was just another The officials were not au- the number of families
day in the Trump adminis- thorized to discuss internal crossing into the U.S. has
tration. deliberations and spoke on climbed to record highs,
The president on Friday condition of anonymity. pushing the system to the
confirmed he had pulled Vitiello had been sched- breaking point. As a result,
the nomination, even as uled to travel with Trump ICE was releasing families
he called Vitiello a “good to the border Friday but faster, in greater numbers
man.” was told late Thursday he and farther from the bor-
“But we’re going in a wasn’t going, one of the der. Since Dec. 21, the
tougher direction. We want people said. agency set free more than
to go in a tougher direc- He has been acting head 125,000 people who came
tion,” he said. since June of the agency into the U.S. as families.
Trump did not explain what that enforces U.S. immigra- Trump on Friday was tour-
that meant and did not say tion law in the interior of ing a recently built portion
whom he had in mind as a the United States. He has of replacement fencing
replacement. But the deci- more than 30 years of law that he is holding up as the
sion, first reported by The enforcement experience, answer to stop the recent
Associated Press, comes as starting in 1985 with the U.S. surge of migrant families
his administration is strug- Border Patrol. He was pre- coming to the U.S.
gling to deal with an influx viously Border Patrol chief Though the 2-mile section
of Central American mi- and deputy commissioner is only a long-planned re-
grants, which has led to a of U.S. Customs and Border placement for an older
12-year high in U.S.-Mexico Protection, which oversees barrier, the White House
border crossings, straining the patrol. describes it as the first sec-
the U.S. immigration system. Vitiello was respected by tion of his proposed border
Trump had threatened to his staff as a border vet- wall. It’s commemorated
close the border entirely to eran, but his experience with a plaque bearing
cope with the flow, before mostly with Border Patrol, Trump’s name and those
backing off this week. made him an odd fit to of top immigration and
In a letter addressed to all some at ICE, and some vet- homeland security officials
ICE employees Friday, Viti- erans of the agency said — but not Vitiello’s.q