Wolf to face heated Senate hearing
WASHINGTON — Nearly a year into the job and amid questions he was illegally appointed, Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf will face a Senate panel Wednesday for a confirmation hearing likely to get contentious.
Appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Wolf potentially faces questions on two recent whistleblower reports from department employees. The legitimacy of the appointment to his current role also has been challenged in federal court and the Government Accountability Office.
Wolf has served as the acting secretary of the department since November. He was sworn in on an interim basis shortly after being confirmed by the Senate for a different role — as the undersecretary of the department’s Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans — in a 54-41 vote. He is the fifth person to head DHS, which has seen high turnover and an unprecedented number of vacant positions among its leadership.
Sen. Gary Peters, DMich., the committee’s ranking member, released a statement last month after President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Wolf, saying he had “serious questions and concerns about his suitability for the job.”
Peters previously opposed Wolf ’s nomination for the undersecretary role. Another committee Democrat who voted against him was Sen. Jacky Rosen, DNev., who delayed his earlier nomination for five months because of his role in developing the administration’s family separation policy.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, DN.H., another panel member, pressed Wolf earlier this year about his decision to deploy armed Homeland Security agents to Portland, Ore., following mass protests against police brutality. Hassan argued the presence of agents did little to de-escalate the tensions there.
Wolf’s department oversees the three main immigration agencies — Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services — as well as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service.
DHS has been without a Senate-confirmed secretary since Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019 after reportedly refusing to implement tougher measures to stem migration at the southern U.S. border.
In his time as Homeland Security chief, Wolf has pushed through some of the department’s most contentious immigration policies, including the summary expulsion of more than 8,000 unaccompanied children at the border during the pandemic. He has not been afraid to engage in high-profile back-and-forth over these decisions with congressional Democrats, as well as with local and state elected officials.