The job of the general counsel overseeing some 2,500 lawyers at the Department of Homeland Security was partially to push back on administration policies that were potentially illegal. The White House clearly didn't like how John Mitnick was doing that job, so it axed him on Tuesday, tossing yet another senior official at Homeland Security on a scrap heap of ousted agency leaders.
Mitnick will now join former Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, former acting deputy secretary Claire Grady, and former head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) L. Francis Cissna in dusting off his resumé to look for new work. Mitnick was also the agency's fifth general counsel to be sent packing, according to The New York Times.
In the meantime, don't ask for clarity on who's replacing Mitnick. One administration official said it would be Chad Mizelle, only to be immediately contradicted by a Homeland Security official who said it would be the agency's principal deputy general counsel, Joseph Maher. Sounds like a great position—can’t imagine anyone passing up such a prime steppingstone to greater things. Whatever the case, surely DHS will maintain a firm grasp on the lawlessness of the policies it authorizes.
After a judge blocked a departmental policy attempting to restrict asylum applications at the border, the acting head of Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) complained about what a nuisance it was that the judicial branch is so nitpicky about the letter of the law. “Every time this administration comes up with what we believe is a legal rule or policy that we believe will address this crisis,” Mark Morgan said, “we just end up getting enjoined.” The Supreme Court ultimately broke with four decades of legal precedent earlier this month when it allowed that asylum policy to go into effect while litigation continues surrounding the policy's legality.
The Trump administration's immigration policy is now being run by "acting" chiefs at DHS, USCIS, CPB, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
What could go wrong?