Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scrambling for answers over who is exactly in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department after Donald Trump's appointee from December was demoted with great fanfare after weeks on the job but still appears to be running the show.
According to a report from the Washington Post, the Trump administration pulled the plug on acting director Caleb Vitello after one month on the job over frustrations that his department was not rounding up undocumented immigrants at the pace the president demanded.
However, it appears that Vitello is still on the job and the Trump administration can't get its story straight about what is going on.
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According to the report from the Post's Maria Sacchetti and Marianne LeVine, "... a replacement has yet to be named, and Vitello is still listed at the top of the leadership chart on ICE’s website. He has continued to appear at immigration raids wearing a ballistic vest and has been featured in agency news releases. After his public demotion, he celebrated ICE’s 22nd anniversary with a post on LinkedIn: 'I’m so honored to be leading the proud men and women of the only professional home I’ve ever known this many years later.'"
That has lawmakers scratching their heads over who exactly they should direct any questions to about the highly-charged issue of immigrant round-ups.
The report notes "baffled" lawmakers and the 20,000 employees of the department are looking for answers.
With the report noting, "Current and former colleagues say the uncertainty is injecting chaos into an agency that is under pressure to dramatically increase enforcement without additional funding," Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) commented, "We don’t even know who to direct our inquiries to. Maybe that’s by design, but it reeks of incompetence.”
John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director during the Obama administration, also criticized the confusion, by telling the Post, "It makes it only harder to do this job. It adds an extra layer of uncertainty. How long is the leader going to be the actual leader?”
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