Trump slow-walking immigration enforcement chief nomination, Democrats say

Senate Democrats say President Trump is trying to pull a fast one with his immigration enforcement chief, hiding behind a complex set of rules to keep him on the job while slow-walking his nomination to prevent Democrats from getting a crack at him on Capitol Hill.

It’s a twist on the usual story in Washington, where Democrats usually delay the president’s picks. This time around, Democrats have signaled they’re eager to get a crack at Thomas D. Homan, the deputy director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who’s been acting as director since the beginning of the Trump administration.

Democrats say it’s the administration delaying its own pick by withholding information the Senate needs to move ahead.

“The absence of a Senate-confirmed head of ICE for more than a year hinders Congressional oversight and the efficient operation of the agency and is troubling in any circumstance,” the Democrats, led by Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Whip Richard J. Durbin, said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

“Moreover, it is completely unacceptable at a time when the Trump Administration is making radical — and in some cases possibly illegal — changes in immigration enforcement policies and practices,” the Democrats said.

Mr. Homan has been the spear tip of many of the administration’s most piercing immigration policy changes, executing the president’s executive orders and undoing Obama-era policies that had put almost all illegal immigrants out-of-bounds for deportation.

Under the previous administration, only some new border crossers and illegal immigrants with major criminal records were considered deportable — freeing about 9 million of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. from significant fear of removal.

Mr. Homan, by contrast, has said there are no longer any protected classs of illegals. That means, with the exception of some 700,000 people who are part of the DACA program, all 11 million illegal immigrants are eligible to be deported — though those with serious criminal records remain the priority.

Homeland Security press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said Mr. Homan has led the agency to new levels, including a 30-percent increase in deportations from the interior of the country, major busts of the dangerous MS-13 gang and better employee morale.

“Senate Democrats should be sending Tom Homan a thank-you letter for all that he and ICE have done to protect the safety of our communities across the country,” Mr. Houlton said.

Mr. Homan’s current title is deputy director. He was the official acting director at the beginning of the Trump administration, but he had to give that up to comply with the Vacancies Act, which only allows acting directors to hold a post for a limited period of time. Congress had feared that presidents would use acting directors to carry out their will, while never submitting an actual nominee for consideration by the Senate, thus avoiding scrutiny.

While deputy director, Mr. Homan continues to serve as the senior official performing the duties of the director — meaning he’s still effectively the head of the agency, since there is no confirmed director.

Homeland Security says the arrangement is consistent with the Vacancies Act.

Mr. Homan is a lifelong law enforcement officer, and won a distinguished service award in 2015 under the Obama administration.

But Democrats say his performance under Mr. Trump has been characterized by “inflammatory and inaccurate statements.”

They claim he referred to illegal immigrants as “tonks,” and said he “falsely suggested” sanctuary laws led to an illegal immigrant starting a major forest fire in California.

While illegal immigrants have been traced as the cause of many forest fires out west, Mr. Homan’s statement referred to an illegal immigrant who’d set a small fire for warmth. It was extinguished in minutes.

Mr. Homan said at the time that given the bigger fires raging, the sanctuary community that arrested the illegal immigrant for setting the small fire should honor the government’s request to turn him over for deportation.

Democrats also dinged Mr. Homan for his pro-enforcement opinions on immigration, such as calling for criminal prosecution of officials who run sanctuary cities, and warning illegal immigrants they should “be afraid” that ICE will catch them.

In their letter, they said it appeared the administration was trying to hide Mr. Homan to keep him from facing his congressional critics personally.

Mr Homan did testify once last year about ICE’s budget in a House hearing.

Asked about the delay, a spokeswoman for committee Republicans signaled the holdup was with Mr. Homan and Homeland Security.