Tag Archives: DHS

From an op-ed published by the Washington Post: After serving for more than two years in the Department of Homeland Security’s leadership during the Trump administration, I can attest that the country is less secure as a direct result of the president’s actions. Like many Americans, I had hoped that Donald Trump, once in office, would soberly accept the burdens …

CNN reports: The US Attorney for the Oregon District today requested an investigation into the masked, camouflaged federal authorities without identification badges who are arresting protesters in Portland. The request is aimed specifically at DHS personnel who have been captured on various videos arresting protesters and putting them in unmarked SUVs. Demonstrators in Portland have been protesting racial inequality and …

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court handed a green light Thursday to the Trump administration in its effort to speed up the removal of those seeking asylum. The court ruled that asylum seekers claiming fear of persecution abroad do not have to be given a federal court hearing before quick removal from the United States. The decision was written by …

CBS News reports: Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf today stressed that the Trump administration believes DACA is unlawful and that DHS has the ability to unwind the program. “What they didn’t like was the rationale and the way in which we proposed to do that,” he said of the Supreme Court. Wolf accused the Obama administration of creating …

The New York Post reports: The Trump administration has added the firearms industry — gun shops included — to a federal list of critical infrastructure during the ongoing coronavirus emergency. The new language, added Saturday to the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, now deems as critical “Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, …

Politico reports: The Department of Homeland Security has been briefed that New York City’s morgues are nearing capacity, according to a department official and a second person familiar with the situation. Officials were told that morgues in the city are expected to reach capacity next week, per the briefing. A third person familiar with the situation in New York said …

Politico reports: The Department of Homeland Security stopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure in 2017, according to current and former DHS officials with direct knowledge of the matter. From at least 2005 to 2017, an office inside DHS, in tandem with analysts and supercomputers at several national laboratories, produced detailed …

NBC News reports: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning for the possibility that President Donald Trump could make an emergency declaration to bring in extra funds and personnel to assist the administration’s coronavirus response, according to internal documents obtained by NBC News. FEMA officials are preparing for an “infectious disease emergency declaration” by the president that would allow the …

The Week reports: Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, who is the top member of President Trump’s coronavirus task force, was having trouble accessing an online map produced by Johns Hopkins University of the virus’ spread. So, he took to Twitter to ask if anyone else was having trouble with the website. He quickly realized the map was behind …

NBC News New York reports: New Jersey Homeland Security officials have increased the threat level for white supremacist extremists to its highest level possible, according to a new report. The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness has boosted the threat level from white supremacy groups from moderate — where it was listed in 2019 — to high for …

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will waive federal contracting laws to speed construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Department of Homeland Security said waiving procurement regulations will allow 177 miles (283 kilometers) of wall to be built more quickly in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The 10 waived laws include …

The New York Times reports: New York State officials said on Friday that they planned to sue the Trump administration over its decision this week to ban thousands of New Yorkers from enrolling in programs that allow travelers to circumvent long lines at airports and borders. The lawsuit would be the latest escalation in tensions between President Trump and his …

ABC News reports: Residents of New York are no longer eligible to enroll in or renew Trusted Traveler programs, an official with Donald Trump’s administration told Fox News. In an interview on Wednesday night, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Tucker Carlson that applications and renewals for Global Entry and other programs are suspended for all New …

NBC News reports: A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to return a gay asylum-seeker who was deported to Chad, ruling that the government had not properly considered his asylum claim based on his status as a gay man before deporting him. Oumar Yaide arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and requested political asylum because he was …

TechCrunch reports: Homeland Security has confirmed it will not expand face recognition scans to U.S. citizens arriving and departing the country, days after it emerged the agency proposed making the scans for citizens mandatory. The department, whose responsibility is border protection and immigration checks, said in a government filing that it wanted to “amend the regulations to provide that all …

TechCrunch reports: Homeland Security wants to expand facial recognition checks for travelers arriving to and departing from the U.S. to also include citizens, which had previously been exempt from the mandatory checks. In a filing, the department has proposed that all travelers, and not just foreign nationals or visitors, will have to complete a facial recognition check before they are …

The Washington Post reports: Chad Wolf was sworn in Wednesday as the new acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the fifth person to hold the top job under President Trump, a period of unusually high leadership turnover at the nation’s largest domestic security agency. Wolf replaces Kevin McAleenan, who assumed the acting DHS chief role when Trump …

Politico reports: The White House has imminent plans to name Homeland Security official Chad Wolf acting secretary, according to three people familiar with the situation. Wolf will replace acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, whose last day in the job was Thursday. No successor was named as darkness fell on Washington. President Donald Trump called Wolf a few days ago and …

CBS News reports: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan says he will not testify in front of Congress next week even after the House Homeland Security Committee issued a subpoena for his appearance. The outgoing Trump administration official wrote in a letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the panel, saying he was “disappointed” and “extremely surprised” to …

NBC News reports: The White House is strongly considering Chad Wolf, the acting undersecretary for strategy at the Department of Homeland Security and former chief of staff to then-Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, to head DHS, according to four current and former department officials familiar with deliberations on the matter. Wolf is not considered as hard-line on immigration as two other names …