WASHINGTON, DC — Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned as Homeland Security secretary after meeting with President Donald Trump on Sunday evening. CBS News, citing two anonymous officials, first reported that Nielsen and Trump planned to meet the president around 5 p.m.
About an hour later, Trump tweeted she was moving on from the agency.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service,” tweeted Trump. He added that Kevin McAleenan, the current commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, would become acting head of the agency.
“I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job,” Trump tweeted.
Nielsen is expected to stay for another week during the transition period, PBS NewsHour reported.
The Washington Post reported, citing sources, that Energy Secretary Rick Perry is in consideration to replace Nielsen permanently.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Nielsen was forced out or decided to leave voluntarily. Nielsen wrote in her resignation letter: “I hope that the next Secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse.”
A source close to the department told Axios that Nielsen expected to have a “showdown” with Trump. She believes the White House blindsided her when Trump withdrew Ronald Vitiello, his nominee to run the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Trump said he wanted the agency to move in a tougher direction.
“Frustrations were building on both sides,” the source told Axios. “She was undercut at every turn. She’s done everything she can do. The White House is eating their own.”
Nielsen’s resignation comes after Trump backed off on threats to close the U.S.-Mexico border as his administration weighs half-measures that could satisfy him, such as stopping people on foot at some crossings. Trump issued the threat last week, hoping it would push Mexico to immediately halt all illegal immigration into America.
Nielsen had held an emergency call with Cabinet members and White House aides Tuesday, saying the agency would treat it as if they’d “been hit by a Category 5 hurricane,” according to The Associated Press.
The New York Times reported that Trump and his top immigration adviser Stephen Miller have privately — and repeatedly — complained about Nielsen, even faulting her for the increase in migrants entering the country and failing to find better methods of securing the border.
Nielsen was appointed to the role in December 2017 but AP reported in November that Trump and Nielsen never really clicked on a personal level. Specifically, the president wasn’t enamored with her explanations of complex immigration issues and her inability to bring about sweeping changes at the border.
The growing rift lead AP to call her departure “inevitable” and list some potential replacements. McAleenan was among them, along with Transportation Security Administration head David Pekoske and Maj. Gen. Vincent Coglianese, who runs the Marine Corps Installations Command.
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