On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made two important announcements. First, she named new leaders at the agency in charge of immigration enforcement. Second, she said the department would increase the use of lie detector tests on employees. The goal is to find out if anyone is sharing information about operations with the media.
Noem told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” “The powers I have under the Department of Homeland Security are wide – ranging. I plan to use all of them. We need to follow the law, the safety procedures, and do what President Trump promised.”
Polygraph exams, also known as lie detector tests, usually can’t be used as evidence in court. But federal law enforcement agencies and those handling national security clearances often use them.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, “The Department of Homeland Security is a national security agency. We can, should, and will use polygraphs on our staff.”
White House officials have been unhappy with how slowly deportations are happening. They think recent leaks about where authorities planned to carry out operations are part of the problem.
Noem’s announcement of the two new leadership positions at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came less than two months into the Trump administration. This shows how important the administration thinks it is to carry out the president’s plan for deportations.
Todd Lyons, who was the former assistant director of field operations for the agency’s enforcement part, will be the acting ICE director. Madison Sheahan, who is the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and was Noem’s aide when she was governor of South Dakota, will be the agency’s deputy director.
These leadership changes happened after the acting ICE director was moved to a different job on Feb. 21. Two other top immigration enforcement officials were also reassigned on Feb. 11. These staffing changes came because the Trump administration was frustrated with how slow immigration arrests were.
Noem also said on Friday that the agency had found two people who were “leaking information” and planned to prosecute them.
On Sunday, she said these two people “were giving away details about our planned enforcement operations in several cities. This exposed weaknesses.” She added that they could go to federal prison for up to 10 years.
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