Washington, D.C. Aug. 14, 2020- Today, the Government Accountability Office said that Chad Wolf, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary, and Ken Cuccinelli, Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary, were invalidly appointed and therefore ineligible to hold these positions. On July 20 Wolf issued a new memo set to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as we know it, refusing new applications and slashing renewals in half.
Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, said:
“The Trump administration has been hellbent on harming DACA recipients and DACA-eligible young people since its initial rescission of DACA in 2017, but immigrant youth won on DACA at the Supreme Court in June. Yet, Trump refused to accept this, instead plowing through with a new DACA memo in July to dismantle DACA as we know it. What’s clear today from the Government Accountability Office is that Chad Wolf did not have the authority to issue this memo in the first place.
The Department of Homeland Security must immediately rescind their latest DACA memo, and allow for new DACA applications to be accepted; in addition to issuing DACA renewals for 2-year periods and processing requests for advanced parole. Both Wolf and Cuccinelli have done serious damage during their time at DHS, including recently deploying CBP agents to terrorize protestors in cities like Portland and Chicago. They must immediately step down.”