What’s Wrong With This Picture?

We are faced daily with tweets from the president about the crisis at our southern border, but what has he done about it?

Let me back up a little. The responsibility for managing our borders is primarily divided between two federal agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, both of which fall under the Department of Homeland Security. At the very least, one would expect some intelligent leadership at the top of these agencies as well as at the top of the parent department to provide solutions and guidance for managing the problem at the border. But the ultimate responsibility falls on the president to whom the Secretary of Homeland Security (the head of the department) directly reports. So what has the president done to ensure that there is effective leadership in those agencies?

In a recent article, the New York Times summed it up this way.

“The latest departures, along with previous vacancies, will leave the Department of Homeland Security without a permanent secretary, deputy secretary, two under-secretaries, Secret Service director, Federal Emergency Management Agency director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, general counsel, citizenship and immigration services director, inspector general, chief financial officer, chief privacy officer and, once [Kevin] McAleenan [the new acting head of the DHS] moves, Customs and Border Protection commissioner.”

And since that article was written, the acting deputy secretary Claire Grady, has submitted her resignation.

So, our president’s solution to the problem is to decapitate the department and its agencies responsible for managing the crisis he maintains is the number one issue facing our country, and create confusion, instability and turmoil within them.

Tell me, what’s wrong with this picture?