The manifesto called “The Mandate for Leadership” naturally has a chapter dealing with those pesky immigrants. Written by Ken Cuccinelli, an attorney who had served from 2019 to 2021 in the Trump administration as the “acting” Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. During his brief stint in the White House, he became “Principal Deputy Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services” (USCIS), an office established by the Trump administration and which has since been abolished.
Cuccinelli’s appointment to that newly formed position was found to be unlawful by US District Judge Randolph Moss in March, 2020. The judge ruled it was in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. His appointment as “acting” Deputy Secretary was also found to be illegal by the Government Accountability Office that same year.
While Ken wasn’t having a good year, he contributed to the manifesto by writing the chapter on Homeland Security. According to Ken, “DHS has also suffered from the Left’s wokeness and weaponization against Americans whom the Left perceives as its political opponents.”
Right off the bat, he recommends “the President pursue legislation to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be granted a broader deportation process. Right now, a process that currently applies to people caught within 100 miles of the border would be enlarged to people caught anywhere in the country. People who are in deportation proceedings are sometimes “tracked” rather than be held in detention. This is referred to as the “Alternatives to Detention” program and would be shelved according to the manifesto.
Legal immigration would face restrictions, such as decreasing or abolishing certain visa categories. For example, T & U visas for victims of crime or trafficking, who would generally assist in police investigations of those crimes might become harder to get or go away completely. “Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit.”
For those looking for asylum here in America, they can expect the likelihood of being rerouted to other countries as the manifesto calls for bringing back “asylum cooperative agreements” with Central American countries. An oldie but goodie from the Trump era. They would also like to see Congress restrict eligibility and get rid of certain categories of eligibility for asylum seekers.
And if you thought children would have some protections, think again. Lots of cruelty written into this chapter. The manifesto calls for detaining children in terrible conditions, such as having Congress revoke the 1997 court settlement agreement known as The Flores Settlement. This agreement mandated that unaccompanied minors be held in the “least restrictive” settings as possible. If revoked, many children will again be held in ICE detention centers. Remember foil blankets?
For those with temporary protected status and are already in America, that could be revoked. Most are here under a temporary humanitarian parole and are from Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ukraine and Venezuela. Processing times would become even more lengthy; cost of applications would rise; impose fees for asylum requests; allowing people to pay more to move ahead in the processing line.
Should our democracy fall in November, more than 12 million people with green cards would face an uncertain future. Let’s do all we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.