[Federal Vacancies Reform Act\Ken Cuccinelli]
Nicole Melaku: “The illegal appointment of Cuccinelli to head USCIS, as determined by the Government Accountability Office today, is only the latest development with an administration that is willing to violate the rule of law…”
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Friday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal oversight agency, found that the Trump administration violated federal law, specifically the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, in appointing Ken Cuccinelli as head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The administration also dropped its appeal of a federal court ruling that deemed the changes made by USCIS to limit access to asylum as illegal because of Cuccinneli’s unlawful appointment. Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) released the following statement:
“NPNA and its coalition of immigrant advocates, is demanding the immediate removal of Ken Cucinelli as acting head of USCIS. The Trump administration has decimated USCIS to limit immigration and live out the wildest dreams of white supremacists within the White House.
“The illegal appointment of Cuccinelli to head USCIS, as determined by the Government Accountability Office today, is only the latest development with an administration that is willing to violate the rule of law to limit access to asylum, citizenship, DACA, and any relief for people who are not rich and white. The courts have stepped in multiple times, as they did in March against USCIS’s changes, limiting the right to asylum. By dropping its appeal, the administration is seeking to avoid a legal battle that will ultimately end with higher federal courts affirming that USCIS is acting unlawfully.
“Congress now has a responsibility to hold the administration accountable for violating federal law and addressing the multiple policies and practices that USCIS has pursued under unlawful leadership and a lack of authority. And the Senate, specifically, must take the administration to task for usurping its legal authority to appoint federal agency leads.
“Congress should also hold USCIS accountable for its multiple actions to limit access to naturalization and immigration benefits, including halting the proposed rule to increase fees and eliminate most fee waivers, and course-correct an agency that has moved away from its mission of processing applications and towards un unlawfully led agency that furthers the administration’s racist enforcement agenda.”
