Here I thought that Steve Miller was in charge of immigration, but instead it appears that Barack Obama is in charge of appointments at Donald J. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS). To follow up on another Obama retread, Kevin McAleenan, as acting Secretary, is the latest failure on the personnel is policy front for President Trump is the appointment of Mark Morgan, Obama’s failed Border Patrol head, to head up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Your correspondent had something to say about Morgan, who was brought in by the Obama Regime for a specific purpose, the decrease arrests by Border Patrol Agents (BPA) and to reduce shootings of criminals who attack BPAs. [New Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan More Interested In Changing The Border Patrol’s “Culture” Than Stopping Illegal Immigration, by Federale, VDare, October 21, 2016] Morgan was quite successful in the little time he had under the Obama Regime, and his pernicious influence continues today, Border Patrol shootings and use-of-force are down across the board. Correspondingly, illegal immigration is increasing as well. So Morgan’s continuation of the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty, despite attempts by President Trump to curtail it, continues unabated.
Mark Morgan, International Man of Mystery
President Trump announced his choice as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday, tapping a former FBI official who frequently appears on cable news advocating for the president’s immigration policies.
In a tweet, Trump called Mark Morgan, who briefly ran the U.S. Border Patrol under President Barack Obama, “a true believer and an American Patriot. He will do a great job!”
Trump, who has made tougher immigration enforcement a pillar of his presidential campaign and his administration, recently pulled the nomination of his previous choice to run ICE, saying that he wanted to go in “a tougher direction.”
In Morgan, Trump has found a vocal advocate for some of his positions, particularly the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. Morgan has said such a wall would be an effective way to reduce illegal border crossings.
[Trump Taps Mark Morgan, Former Obama Official Who Supports Border Wall, To Head ICE, by By Nick Miroff, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey, WaPo, May 5, 2019]
Now, how did Morgan, a former FBI Special Agent-in-Charge, who has never made an immigration arrest in his career, go from an appointee whose purpose was to sabotage immigration enforcement and handcuff Border Patrol Agents, get to be an appointee based on his “hard-line” immigration policies? One can thank a real immigration hard-liner, Daniel Horowitz, Senior Editor at the Conservative Review. Horowitz, very strong on immigration issues, for some reason came to bring Morgan on his podcast, The Conservative Conscience. I say for some reason because Morgan had no reputation among immigration patriots or technocrats for anything. He had no achievement during his very short tenure as Chief Patrol Agent. In fact, Morgan was fired on the first day of the Trump Administration. And for good reason, Morgan was an open borders advocate in the USBP. And he left in disgrace and ignominy. However, back in January he appeared on Horowitz’ podcast and since then has been a regular guest, and a guest with views on immigration enforcement the polar opposite of his views back in 2016.
And since, he has been promoted by Horowitz directly to Steve Miller and to President Trump as the penultimate immigration hawk. Now, I believe Horowitz is sincere, though starry-eyed, in his support for Morgan. The real question is what are Morgan’s beliefs about immigration policy, and specifically to the failings of ICE in the area of immigration enforcement, such as the ongoing refusal of ICE SVU to do any immigration law enforcement work.
Now, there are a number of explanations. First, Morgan is an opportunist, and decided that he can do a better job at immigration enforcement at ICE than Thomas Homan, whom the Republicans in the Senate refused to confirm as head of ICE. The second is that Morgan has had a road to Damascus conversion on the immigration issue. That is hard to believe, given that now he claims his hard-line outlook was the result of his years as an FBI Special Agent-in-Charge in the El Paso office. That however, contradicts his open borders policies he advocated as head of the USBP under President Obama. How did his concerns about illegal immigration in Los Angeles and El Paso result in an Obama Regime Administration Amnesty advocate at the Border Patrol, but then suddenly discover those problems at the border two years later, after he was fired by President Trump.
The third explanation is that he is lying and going to use his position to further sabotage immigration enforcement. This is my position. There is no evidence that Morgan has any real knowledge of the complexities of immigration enforcement, especially the fractured nature of the immigration enforcement bureaucracy. It appears that Morgan’s public statements in support of President Trump’s policies has been key in his appointment. But that is all that there appears to be, public statements. There is no evidence that he has any idea how to turn around the major problems: the border zerg rush, kritarchy, and deep state sabotage of immigration enforcement.
Two top Homeland Security officials who spoke with the Washington Examiner Monday described Morgan as a career FBI employee with less than one year of experience working in any Homeland Security entity, who likely got the job because he used TV stints to woo Trump.
“What he does is he goes on Fox News and shoots his mouth out — how he was in charge of Border Patrol for three months?” said the first official, who has led two Homeland Security agencies and asked to speak on background to avoid upsetting clients. “People look at that as an expert. He’s far from an expert. He’s just a loyalist, OK? He gets on Fox and talks about how good the president is. The president loves it: ‘Why don’t we hire this guy?’”
Morgan emerged on Fox last year and has since made a name for himself by endorsing Trump’s policies, including transporting asylum-seekers to sanctuary cities. One official the Examiner heard from said he may hurt his ability to lead ICE if he steps on the toes of other Homeland Security officials who have more say on border policies than he does as the head of an agency tasked with homeland security investigations and deported unauthorized immigrants.
“Trump may expect him to continue to be an outspoken advocate, but Morgan will step on a lot of toes within Homeland Security if he continually strays outside his lane. Becoming head of ICE will give him a lane he hasn’t had since he left the Obama administration,” a second official wrote in an email. “I think it will be a bit harder for Morgan to ‘push the Trump agenda’ as head of ICE (if confirmed), especially more so than as he has been able to from outside the system.”
[‘He’s Just A Loyalist’: Trump’s ICE Pick Mark Morgan Blasted By Former DHS Officials, by Anna Giaritelli, Washington Examiner, May 06, 2019]
My concern is not that Morgan is a loyalist, he’s obviously not, but knows how to use Trump’s peculiar penchant for not going beyond someone’s public statements in support of his policies. Many have fooled him, including Lady DACA, John Kelly, and others by appearing initially to be a public supporter. Contrast this with Tom Homan, who could not only talk the talk, but could walk the walk on immigration enforcement. Morgan can’t because he knows nothing about immigration enforcement and has no experience, and consequently, no good will with the rank and file of ICE and the rest of DHS. In fact, it is likely that the saboteurs will use his lack of knowledge to continue with their sabotage.
What President Trump needs to do is bring in Tom Homan and Kris Kobach as his immigration team. Homan knows the bureacracy and Kobach knows policy and law. That is what President Trump needs, not more Obama Regime retreads. Personnel is policy!
Federale 
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