”President Obama has demonstrated that unilateral action by the executive branch is a legitimate means of changing the nation's immigration policy," Feere wrote in his 2015 article. ”Though his actions have been controversial, executive actions that direct agencies how to approach birthright citizenship are arguably more justifiable."
Feere added, ”Whether Trump worked with Congress to draft legislation or simply directed agencies to apply the Citizenship Clause more narrowly, the issue would likely end up at the Supreme Court."
Feere's name surfaced as GOP congressional judiciary committee staffers were said by former officials to be in the running for other homeland security positions. Those under consideration reportedly include Tracy L. Short, a House panel counsel who formerly served as deputy chief counsel with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Atlanta office, and Gene P. Hamilton, a Senate panel counsel for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's pick for attorney general.
Spokeswomen for Sessions and the House committee did not return requests for comment Wednesday, and Short and Hamilton did not respond to email messages seeking comment.
The administration's potential staffing moves come under a spotlight as Trump began signing executive orders Wednesday on immigration matters including enabling construction of his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Sessions has been an advocate of a tougher crackdown on immigration, although it remained unclear what steps Trump may undertake regarding the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. The 2012 initiative has given temporary protection from deportation to hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in the United States as children. Trump vowed during the campaign to reverse it.
Denying citizenship to U.S. born children of illegal immigrants would open a new battleground.
”If there is a policy tug of war between the [Trump chief strategist Stephen K.] Bannon faction and the [chief of staff Reince] Priebus faction . . . assuming those things even exist, there's still lots of hawkish people likely to be appointed in the various agencies," said Mark Krikorian, CIS executive director. Krikorian declined to comment about Feere.
”Personnel is policy, and the people getting the important policy positions in places like ICE and Customs and Border Protection are likely to be pretty strong pro-enforcement people, as opposed to Bush administration leftovers," Krikorian said.
