There’s been plenty of criticism. Kelly — who wasn’t even briefed on the first iteration of Trump’s “travel ban” executive order until Trump was in the midst of signing it — came under fire for the aggressive detention and interrogation of people from majority-Muslim countries by Customs and Border Protection agents during the week the ban was in effect.
He’s been criticized by Democratic members of Congress for ICE’s actions to apprehend immigrants in courthouses and near churches,
and for their occasional attempts to arrest and deport immigrants protected under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
But with each round of criticism, Kelly’s response has gotten more forceful. In the past few months, he’s overtaken Sessions (who’s fallen out of favor with the mercurial president) as the face of the administration’s immigration policy. And he presents it with a blunt, law-and-order morality and an edge of outrage toward anyone who might dare question those who keep America safe.
In a speech at George Washington University in May — a mission statement about Kelly’s priorities as secretary, delivered to an audience of Washington elites — Kelly was shockingly martial. “Make no mistake — we are a nation under attack. We are under attack from criminals who think their greed justifies raping young girls at knifepoint, dealing poison to our youth, or killing just for fun.”
It wasn’t the Kelly that many had expected when he was nominated — the regional Latin America expert who hated politics and would think a wall was total bunk. It sounded, well, a lot like Donald Trump, at a time when Trump wasn’t spending much time sounding like his old self.
Now, though, that passage from Kelly’s speech might sound familiar. It’s awfully close to the rhetoric Trump used on Friday, during a speech in Long Island that was ostensibly about MS-13 but really about how important it was for ICE to be rough on immigrant “criminals.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
