DHS News

In the midst of the crisis at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dismantled a longstanding, nonpartisan advisory body, announcing “a new model” Friday in a letter terminating most of its members. Mayorkas’ letter told 32 members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council that he is removing them, though they were appointed by…

The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Alejandro Mayorkas, who has kept a high, occasionally controversial political profile in California and Washington since the 1990s, is the son of Cuban immigrants. Mayorkas, 61, is an alumnus of Beverly Hills High School who graduated…

The chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., on Thursday urged the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI to place certain members of the Capitol mob on the no-fly list. “Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration [TSA] and the…

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday that there would be no countrywide lockdown order over the coronavirus pandemic—at least not at this time. During an appearance on Fox Business Channel, Wolf spoke about the Trump administration’s actions to curb the spread of COVID-19. Although some hard-hit states have executed lockdown orders, such as California and…

Hundreds of Central American migrants are headed toward the United States, but the Department of Homeland Security said the border programs it has put in place, along with international cooperation, will keep them at bay. A caravan of hundreds of migrants formed near San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Wednesday and began traveling toward the Guatemalan border, the…

The nation's acting homeland security secretary said Thursday that the $1.4 trillion spending package making its way through Congress will pay for an enormous amount of new barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. The House passed a $1.4 trillion spending package Tuesday with days to go before the federal government would enter a shutdown. Included in the…

The president’s “diplomatic persistence” has deterred illegal migrants and led to a sharp decline in unlawful border crossings, a top U.S. immigration official said Wednesday in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Previous administrations were unwilling to push as President Trump has,” said Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.  “In…

The nation’s acting homeland security chief defended the U.S. Border Patrol against political attacks in testimony at a House hearing Thursday where he also denounced some employees’ unprofessional conduct on Facebook. “The incendiary and overwrought attacks on the men and women securing our border and enforcing immigration laws in the interior are unwarranted and damaging,”…

The Department of Homeland Security revealed just how common “fraudulent families” are among the thousands of illegal immigrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border every month. “Beginning in April 2019, [Homeland Security Investigations] dedicated over 400 personnel to assist [Customs and Border Protection] in combating this issue. HSI interviewed teams to interview persons suspected of attempting entry…

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan appeared before a Senate committee Tuesday and reiterated his requests for Congress to help fix the border crisis. “It’s been over 18 months since the administration asked for the legislative fixes that would’ve prevented the current crisis, and 40 days since we asked for the emergency funding necessary to…

Kevin McAleenan wasn’t a political aide in his rise through government, where he served in senior border security positions under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump’s promotion of the commissioner  of Customs and Border Protection to serve as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security likely will…