Saturday, April 8, 2017

Coverage of this past week's cruise missile attack that the United States launched against Syria will dominate this week's Sunday morning public affairs programs, leaving little room for discussions about other subjects, including immigration and refugees.

The headliner guests on the programs this weekend will include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who will be making his first appearances on the Sunday programs since being confirmed by the Senate, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and a number of senators and members of congress.  There are no scheduled guests this week who are obvious candidates to discuss the subjects of immigration or refugees.

A sneak peek at the guest lists for the upcoming April 9, 2017, editions of each of the five major broadcast and cable Sunday public affairs programs appears after the jump, along with previews of the likely or possible discussions on those programs about immigration and, refugees.

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.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Another potential immigration-related highlight of the week could be a hearing being held in the Senate on border fencing and votes in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on two Department of Justice subcabinet nominees.

Outside of Washington, the Trump Administration will likely spend some time in courtrooms this week in conjunction with court proceedings in Hawaii, Maryland, and Seattle on efforts to block key portions of President Donald J. Trump's revised refugee admissions/travel ban executive order.

In all, from the perspective of those interested in immigration, refugee, homeland security, or human trafficking policy, the week's schedule includes four hearings, one business meeting at which matters on those subjects could be marked up, and possible floor action on as many three nominees that touch on those matters.

McConnell Downplays Speculation that Funding for the Border Wall Could Result in a Government Shutdown During the April 2nd Sunday Morning
Public Affairs Programs

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Click the Play Button, above, to see excerpts of instances in which the subjects of immigration or refugees were discussed during the April 2, 2017, Sunday public affairs programs.

Coverage of two high-profile events dominated the coverage of the April 2, 2017, Sunday public affairs programs: the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and the continuing, multiple investigations of potential ties between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence operatives who were seeking to impact the U.S. presidential election.  Discussions about those two subjects left little room for talk about anything else, including immigration and refugees.
 
In all, the subject of immigration was only mentioned on one of the day's five venerable Sunday morning shows: FOX’s “Fox News Sunday” program, and it only came up briefly, in discussions about whether President Trump’s request for funds to construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico could result in a government shutdown.