Democrats in the House and Senate who serve on committees that oversee the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have asked Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to brief them on his role in helping the new administration craft an executive order suspending immigration to the United States from certain countries and explain the directive.
Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in a letter to Kelly on Monday want a briefing from him on his department’s analysis that factored into President Donald Trump’s executive order and plans to implement it as it applies to green card holders. They cite press reports that DHS wasn’t consulted on the executive directive until last Friday, the day it was issued.
The executive order suspends the issuance of visas to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Libya for 90 days until the government completes a review to determine additional information needed from these countries to adjudicate visas and admissions. DHS at first said the order didn’t apply to green card holders, which are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. and have already been vetted for entry into the country, but the White House then countered that order over the weekend before DHS on Sunday night said lawful permanent resident status would be factored in positively in case-by-case reviews of whether an individual would be granted entry onto the country.
In a separate letter from House Democrats to Kelly, they want him to brief them on the implementation and guidance of the executive order. The letter by the following ranking members on their respective committees: John Conyers (Mich.), Judiciary; Eliot Engel (N.Y.), Foreign Affairs; Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Homeland Security; and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
“Only two days after the Order was signed, it is clear that it has already led to panic and disorder, not to mention protests,” the House Democrats say. “This is apparently due in part to the lack of internal administration review prior to its issuance as well as a lack of clarity and guidance provided thereafter.”