Acting homeland security chief frustrated and isolated — even as he delivers what Trump wants at the border

By Nick Miroff
Oct. 1, 2019 at 6:34 p.m. EDT

Nearly six months after taking over the Department of Homeland Security as acting secretary, Kevin McAleenan has guided the United States out of a crisis at the southern border, but he also says he has lost command of the public messaging from his department and lacks some of the authority he was promised when he took the job.

Increasingly isolated within the administration and overshadowed by others who are more effusive in their praise for President Trump, McAleenan said he retains “operational” control of DHS — mainly the ability to coordinate work at the border among U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services.

But he acknowledged that he is losing the battle to keep DHS, which he views as a neutral law enforcement agency, from being used as a powerful tool for a partisan immigration agenda.

“What I don’t have control over is the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post. “That’s uncomfortable, as the accountable, senior figure.”

McAleenan was referring to recent DHS appointees who won their jobs after advocating aggressively for the president on television: Mark Morgan, the acting head of CBP, and Ken Cuccinelli, the acting USCIS director, who is rumored as a potential replacement for McAleenan.

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