Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security is the chief operating officer of the Department, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations. The department has over 208,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $48.5 billion.  If the Secretary dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office, the Deputy Secretary is to serve as an Acting Secretary.

From an immigration perspective, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security oversees the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Immigration Statistics, and Office of Policy components of the Department. 

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The Committee took up the two nominations at the end of a long executive business meeting, during which it also approved the nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. While the full Senate moved immediately to take up the Gorsuch nomination, it was not c;ear at the time of this writing when it would take up the Rosenstein and Brand nominations.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

The Committee says that “The Task Force will examine all pathways by which extremists might infiltrate the homeland and will seek to identify gaps in U.S. government information sharing and vetting procedures.”  The Committee added, “Fixing potential weaknesses in these systems will go a long way towards improving America’s defenses against terrorism.”

In a statement released by McCaul upon announcing the Task Force, the Chairman said, “In the current threat environment, stopping terrorists will continue to be a top Committee priority. Closing gaps in our counterterrorism screening and vetting procedures is especially important in the face of continuing global instability and the desire of ISIS and other terrorist groups to strike the West. The Task Force Members have a difficult mission ahead of them, but the threat is real and we must act in close coordination with the Administration to best protect Americans from those who wish us harm.”