Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday introduced new management on the company tasked with immigration enforcement as she additionally pledged to step up lie detector checks on workers to establish those that could also be leaking details about operations to the media.
“The authorities that I’ve below the Division of Homeland Safety are broad and in depth and I plan to make use of each single one in every of them to be sure that we’re following the legislation, that we’re following the procedures in place to maintain individuals secure and that we’re ensuring we’re following by on what President Trump has promised,” Noem advised CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Whereas these polygraph exams are usually not admissible in court docket proceedings, they’re steadily utilized by federal legislation enforcement companies and for nationwide safety clearances.
White Home officers have beforehand expressed frustration with the tempo of deportations, blaming it partly on latest leaks revealing cities the place authorities deliberate to conduct operations.
Noem announcement of two new management appointments throughout the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement comes lower than two months into the Trump administration and demonstrates the significance that the administration locations on finishing up the president’s deportation agenda.
Todd Lyons, the previous assistant director of area operations for the company’s enforcement arm, will function performing ICE director. Madison Sheahan, secretary of the Louisiana Division of Wildlife and Fisheries and Noem’s former aide when she was governor of South Dakota, has been tapped to be the company’s deputy director.
The management modifications come after ICE’s performing director was reassigned on Feb. 21. Two different prime immigration enforcement officers had been reassigned Feb. 11. These staffing modifications got here amid frustrations within the Trump administration concerning the tempo of immigration arrests.
Noem additionally introduced on Friday that the company has recognized and deliberate to prosecute two “leakers of knowledge.”
On Sunday, she stated these two individuals “had been leaking our enforcement operations that we had deliberate and had been going to conduct in a number of cities and uncovered vulnerabilities.” She stated they might withstand 10 years in federal jail.
A DHS spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
