President Trump’s top immigration official brushed aside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call to fire a top border official, calling it a “pathetic attempt” to shift blame for the situation to the administration.
Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also hit congressional critics for taking the week off while the administration works overtime to handle the crisis at the border, where facilities built to handle a much smaller number of illegal immigrants are being crushed by the latest surge into the U.S.
In a series of tweets, Cuccinelli reacted strongly to Schumer who said that acting Customs and Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan should be fired over conditions at the border and because of a “toxic culture” displayed in a Facebook group of agents.
While the @realDonaldTrump Administration is treating the situation at the border as the humanitarian crisis that it is, some in Congress are treating the plight of women and children as their own political football trying to score cheap points in the media. (1/3)
— USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) July 3, 2019
“The Inspector General’s report and details of a secret border patrol workers’ Facebook group paint a picture of a toxic culture at U.S. Border Patrol and Protection that can only begin to be changed by immediately firing and replacing top leadership at the agency with law enforcement professionals who have training and expertise in working with vulnerable populations,” Schumer said in a statement.
The inhumane conditions for children and their families.
A secret border patrol workers’ Facebook group sharing offensive images.The top leadership at the border patrol needs to be fired. Now.https://t.co/jLViyslpFC
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 3, 2019
Cuccinelli ripped that and other complaints in his three tweets.
“While the @realDonaldTrump Administration is treating the situation at the border as the humanitarian crisis that it is, some in Congress are treating the plight of women and children as their own political football trying to score cheap points in the media,” he said in the first.
(3/3) Congress is on a week long holiday vacation, while the Trump Administration is actually working to end the crisis. If these members were serious about solving the crisis at the border they would come to the table and work with us, not make flippant statements in the media.
— USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) July 3, 2019
The second: “Calling for trusted, veteran law enforcement officials to resign is just their latest pathetic attempt to shift blame and distract Americans from the fact that Congress’ inaction has made the crisis at the border even worse.”
Third: “Congress is on a week long holiday vacation, while the Trump Administration is actually working to end the crisis. If these members were serious about solving the crisis at the border they would come to the table and work with us, not make flippant statements in the media.”
