Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly forged ahead with tough new immigration policies, outlined in a pair of memos. Although President Donald Trump hadn’t yet released his revised executive order on immigration and securing the border with Mexico, Kelly widened the number of people potentially subject to detention and deportation. He reiterated the plan to hire another 5,000 Customs and Border Patrol agents.
The president’s pick for a replacement National Security Adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, drew praise from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairmen of their respective chambers’ armed services committees.
Mick Mulvaney was sworn in as director of the Office of Management and Budget. During the East Room ceremony, President Trump said a plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act would be forthcoming in March. After that, he said, his team will move on to tax reform. A final plan for that might not come until August — after a plan for the 2018 budget.
If President Trump has an agenda for online government services, it may have to wait a bit. The White House chief digital officer, Gerrit Lansing, left after a month on the job and it’s unclear why. Also leaving is Aaron Snow, a co-founder of the GSA’s development group 18F, that the agency’s inspector general has sharply criticized.
