Former Trump officials who served in the Department of Homeland Security are criticizing a move by the Biden government to fire almost all members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council – with one describing it as a “purge” designed to rinse the Council out of opposing voices .
Mayorkas, in a letter sent Friday and obtained by the Politico, told the commission that he is ending the mandates of more than 30 current members and that he intends to “reconstitute” the council as soon as a “new model” has been developed.
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Mayorkas said that President William Bratton, Vice President Karen Tandy and President Emeritus William Webster will remain in office to help the council move forward.
HSAC was created for unpaid members to use their experience and knowledge on internal security issues, such as counterterrorism and immigration enforcement, to offer guidance to the secretary. But several former employees expressed surprise at how most of the Council was fired.
“Although I respect the right of a DHS secretary to change HSAC to suit his needs, dismissing the entire board immediately and interrupting a lot of important work (which was underway) is not the right approach,” said the former secretary from DHS, Chad Wolf, in a tweet.
Ken Cuccinelli, who served on the board after serving as deputy deputy secretary of DHS and acting head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was stronger in his criticisms, calling the action to fire him and others “a resignation in mass, a good old purge. “
Cuccinelli said he believes this is in line with the new government’s measures to suppress information related to homeland security and the border in particular – a nod to criticism from Republicans and journalists that the government has blocked media at the borders amid a continuing border crisis.
“It is a sign that they simply will not tolerate any dissent. It is consistent with other things they are doing, such as supporting HR1, which has limitations on freedom of expression, it is consistent with them not allowing the media to cross borders” , he said. “This is part of a broader standard and practice by the Biden government to be the most Stalinist of my adult life.”
He also said that the Council had a number of significant projects underway that had now been eliminated.
“HSAC did analyzes, did its own studies and part of the value was that it was not so tied to the current government and we used that and there were people there who were not politically aligned with President Trump – but our secretaries did not fire them for that,” he said he.
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Former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Thomas Homan, told Fox News that while he was surprised that the entire board was fired, especially in the midst of a border crisis, he was not surprised by his own removal. due to the government’s stance on immigration enforcement, of which he has been a strong critic.
“I have been complying with immigration laws since 1984 and this government has clearly shown that it has no intention of enforcing our laws because they beheaded ICE, Border Patrol agents are becoming welcoming agents, so my role at HSAC it would be null because I’m an inspection guy, “he said.
“I am surprised it took me so long to get away because I am there telling the truth to the American people and I am sure it is bothering a lot of people,” he said. “But yes, I am surprised that, in the midst of this crisis, you get rid of the whole HSAC, because HSAC must bring different ideas from all sides, left and right and think outside the box and I am surprised because the administration needs all the help you can get now. “
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“But again I understand, the secretary has this authority, every HSAC complies with the secretary’s wishes, without resentment,” he added.
The agency said Mayorkas will conduct a “comprehensive review” to find out how the council can be used to advise the department – and will launch a redesigned HSAC with “diverse members” representing the country and the communities it serves. He also emphasized that it would be bipartisan.
Cuccinelli was straightforward about DHS’s claim that it was redesigning HSAC for a different purpose.
“Bullshit-” he said. “They are cleaning, they are cleaning because people like me were put in it.”
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He also predicted that the diversity of views on the Council until this week would be replaced by others more friendly to the government.
“It was a mass rewrite and now they are going to put all of their sycophants in there and it’s just going to be a rubber stamp, and they’re going to do studies and come to the conclusion that this government wants them to come back,” he said. “You heard it here first.”