President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security and Office of Management and Budget nominees will now go to a full Senate confirmation vote.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Jan. 20 to advance two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet-level nominees, Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary and Russ Vought for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director.
The committee advanced Noem’s nomination on a 13-2 vote.
Vought’s nomination advanced through the committee by an 8-7 vote.
Noem and Vought both sat for questioning before the Republican-led Senate committee last week.
The favorable votes by the committee now send Noem and Vought’s nominations to the Senate floor for a full vote.
Noem Integral to Trump’s Border Agenda
Noem’s speedy confirmation to the DHS role could prove instrumental in advancing Trump’s border security agenda, which was a key priority of his first administration and is a focus as he returns to the White House.
At her confirmation hearing on Jan. 17, Noem said an early focus will be on processing the final removal from the United States of illegal immigrants with criminal convictions. She said there are about 425,000 illegal immigrants that should be deported immediately.
Noem said she and Trump have also discussed reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) of Trump’s first administration. The MPP, often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, required migrants seeking to assert an asylum claim to wait in Mexico or another third-party country while their asylum application was adjudicated.
In its first public statement since Trump’s return, the White House released a list of administration priorities that include new border security measures. The White House noted plans to call up U.S. troops to assist in these border security efforts.
Other plans would see the administration designate transnational cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and use the Alien Enemies Act to begin removing cartel members from the United States.
Trump has designated Benjamine Huffman as acting DHS secretary as Noem’s nomination awaits the full senate vote.
By Ryan Morgan
