WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, new reporting confirmed that the Trump administration is pushing for a confirmation vote for current Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf. Just a few days ago, a federal judge in New York ruled that Wolf was unlawfully appointed, invalidating the administration’s suspension of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) earlier this year.  

“The Trump administration’s last-minute effort to validate Chad Wolf’s illegitimate leadership of the Department of Homeland Security reeks of desperation. They want to validate their own inhumane policies like ripping away status from Dreamers,” said Lizzy Price, spokesperson for Accountable.US. “Aside from its illegitimacy, Chad Wolf’s leadership has been marked by cruelty, dishonesty, and self-dealing. Not only was Wolf involved in Trump’s barbaric family separation policy, but he lied, under oath, to Senators’ faces about his role. And after Wolf joined DHS, it began pumping millions of dollars into his wife’s firm, which also happens to be his largest financial asset.” 

The most recent ruling that Wolf was unlawfully appointed confirmed an earlier report from the Government Accountability Office. The administration began their push to legitimize Wolf as Secretary earlier this year, resulting in a confirmation hearing in September. Just before that hearing, NBC News reported that DHS awarded $6 million in contracts to the firm where Wolf’s wife is an executive.   

Wolf was previously criticized for his lying in a Senate hearing when he claimed he wasn’t involved in the implementation of the administration’s child separation policy when evidence suggested that the policy was outlined in a memo he sent to others at DHS. That lie, exposed after the hearing, was brought up again in the most recent confirmation hearing by Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada. 

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