Kelly takes reins at White House
Retired general expected to bring a ‘laser focus’
When President Trump introduced John Kelly as his new chief of staff in the Oval Office on Monday, he lauded the retired Marine for running the Department of Homeland Security for six months with “very little controversy.”
In fact, Kelly oversaw some of the most controversial policies of Trump’s agenda, including a travel ban targeting several majorityMuslim countries, a reduction in refugee admissions and steppedup deportations of undocumented immigrants.
What Trump may have meant is that Homeland Security under Kelly has been one of the few sources of consistency in an otherwise turbulent administration. Kelly has not publicly clashed with the president, as have other agency heads.
Instead, the retired Marine Corps general methodically put into place Trump’s vigorous immigration enforcement plan without any Twitter wars or internal revolts.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a frequent Trump critic, called Kelly “one of the strongest and most natural leaders I’ve ever seen” and an effective communicator with Congress. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, described Kelly as a “true leader” who has been “laser-focused” on the president’s agenda.
Even critics of Trump’s immigration policies concede that Kelly has carried out the job given to him.
Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group, described him as a “loyal soldier.”
Janet Murguía, president and CEO of UnidosUS, the nation’s largest immigration advocacy group, said immigrants and their supporters initially hoped Kelly would be a “moderating ” voice who walks back Trump from extreme immigration positions. Instead, Murguía said, Kelly chose to blindly follow Trump’s commands and went even further than needed.
Murguía said Kelly could have met Trump’s call for increased deportations by arresting more undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but he took it a step further by ordering his agents to arrest any undocumented immigrant they encountered.
That led to a 156% increase in arrests of undocumented immigrants without criminal records during Trump’s first 100 days compared with the same time period in 2016 under President Obama.
“It’s one thing to be in the military and carry out orders,” Murguía said. “But you have more latitude when you’re in government. Bringing a humanitarian lens to that work is something we thought would be possible for Gen. Kelly. But instead, he took the approach that appeased the hard-line Trump supporters.”
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration, said the retired Marine Corps general’s lack of civilian government experience proved to be a bonus because it allowed Kelly to focus on his marching orders and avoid policy or personnel fights that have embroiled other departments, such as Justice — where Trump has criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions — and State.
“Obviously, Justice has had all kinds of stuff going on, and (Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson is hinting he might be looking to move on,” Krikorian said. “It’s partly because Kelly is not a dra- ma queen,” and Homeland Security “has put its head down and stuck to its job.”
That strict adherence to Trump’s policies led Krikorian to give Kelly an “A-” during his tenure. That includes Kelly’s determination to implement the travel ban.
Kelly defended the ban as a necessary pause in immigration from terror-prone countries to shore up the nation’s screening procedures, but critics described it as an unconstitutional Muslim ban that Trump called for during his presidential campaign.
A scaled-down version of the ban is in effect after the Supreme Court lifted bans by lower courts. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the ban’s constitutionality.
The travel ban suspends for 90 days the entry of people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Somalia, although the Supreme Court ruled that nationals of those countries with close family in the USA can bypass the ban. The ban suspends the entire refugee program for 120 days, but the court allowed those with relatives in the USA to bypass the ban, as well.
Kelly fulfilled Trump’s push to increase immigration arrests and drive down illegal border crossings.
Arrests of undocumented immigrants living in the USA are up nearly 40%, and people caught crossing the southwest border are down about 60%.
The knocks on Kelly’s record, according to Krikorian, are that Kelly approved 15,000 new H-2B visas for foreign workers to take low-wage U.S. jobs, has not cracked down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants and has maintained the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The latter was created by Obama and has granted deportation protections to nearly 800,000 DREAMers, undocumented immigrants brought to the USA as children.
“He took the approach that appeased the hard-line Trump supporters.” Janet Murguía, president and CEO of UnidosUS