Leadership in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) are calling for the Senate to oppose the nomination of acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf to fill the post permanently.
Wolf has led DHS in an acting capacity since November, and the agency has gone more than a year without a Senate-confirmed leader. President Trump nominated Wolf to head the department permanently last month, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding a nomination hearing for him Wednesday.
The Democratic CHC leadership noted that Wolf oversaw the administration’s hard-line immigration policies such as family separation and the agency’s controversial tactics toward demonstrators in Portland, Ore.
“Mr. Wolf’s distortion of DHS’ mission nearly jeopardized the livelihoods of over 10,000 personnel, disrupted public trust, and placed children in danger,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and committee chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Wolf faced scrutiny last month after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that he was improperly appointed as acting secretary and was therefore ineligible for the position, though Trump and other Republicans dismissed the findings.
“[Wolf’s] record shows a consistent failure to effectively manage the agency, a pattern of issuing inaccurate or misleading statements, and enacting some of the most disturbing immigration policies in our country’s history,” the CHC members wrote. “Based on Mr. Wolf’s track record it is clear he is unfit to serve as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary.”