Tag: ronald vitiello

Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Friday that he withdrew his nominee to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement because he wanted the agency to go in a “tougher” direction, a surprise decision before the president’s trip to the southwestern border. Ronald D. Vitiello, who was nominated last summer by Mr. Trump to run ICE, the agency that arrests, detains and deports people who are in the United States illegally, has been serving as the agency’s acting director since last June. In an email to ICE employees on Friday afternoon, he signaled that he planned to remain at the immigration agency. No replacement has yet been named. “While I will not become the permanent director of ICE, I look forward to working alongside you in serving the American public with integrity, courage and excellence,” Mr. Vitiello said in the email, which was read to The New York Times by an ICE employee on the condition of anonymity. Another person said that Stephen Miller, the president’s chief policy adviser and a supporter of curtailing legal and illegal immigration, did not support Mr. Vitiello’s nomination. The two people familiar with the president’s thinking both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal White House decisions. But some senators, including Republicans, had concerns that Mr. Vitiello was not the right person for this job. Mr. Trump, who has continued to push for stronger deportation rules, had also expressed concern about whether a career civil servant, like Mr. Vitiello, would be up to the task. The request to withdraw Mr. Vitiello’s nomination surprised officials on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ • Florida concluded the first phase of the tumultuous recount of its midterm election on Thursday, as the Republican Ron DeSantis appeared to have enough votes to become governor. But officials ordered a manual recount for the hotly contested Senate seat. • The Trump administration sanctioned 17 Saudis accused in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, as it faced pressure for stronger action. Here’s more on the sanctions, and on how Saudi Arabia is threatening five of its agents with the death penalty (while changing its account of the killing yet again). But is that a viable path to success in 2020? • Bruce Poliquin, New England’s lone House Republican, lost his bid for re-election in Maine. • With a few midterm races still open, the new Congress will have at least 105 Democratic women and 19 Republican women. Read about the president’s Twitter blast.

Thousands of unaccompanied children are in custody of the Administration for Children and Families. The Acting Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Ronald Vitiello, joins Ali Velshi to discuss the process of separating children from their parents at…