By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan has spoken out about his department’s increasingly controversial policies that is turning the department into a partisan tool for the president.
In a candid interview with The Washington Post, McAleenan said the family separations at the border were “well intended” but “went too far.”
“When you see the impact in the six-week period on 2,500-or-so families and understand the emotional pain for those children, it’s not worth it,” McAleenan, who is six months into his role, told The Washington Post. “It’s the one part of this whole thing that I couldn’t ever be part of again.”
McAleenan said he’s losing control of the rhetoric coming from a department that is supposed to be a neutral law enforcement agency.
“What I don’t have control over is the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time,” he said. “That’s uncomfortable, as the accountable, senior figure.”
Trump has yet to nominate McAleenan to the full-time DHS secretary position.
White House officials would not discuss why he hasn’t been nominated, nor would they respond to his frustrations.
“Secretary McAleenan is doing a fantastic job implementing the president’s plan to secure the southern border, build the wall, halt illegal immigration and stop the dangerous practice of catch-and-release,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said. “Thanks to the changes President Trump’s administration has put in place, now, if you try to violate our borders, you will be turned around and sent back to where you came from.”
