Cuccinelli appointed unlawfully: US judge

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s appointment of Virginia’s former attorney general as head of the immigration service violated federal law, a federal judge concluded. The ruling voids controversial policy changes that made it more difficult to get asylum in the US.
Ken Cuccinelli’s appointment in 2019 as acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a unit within the Department of Homeland Security, ran afoul of a statute governing how federal government job vacancies are filled, US District Judge Randolph Moss said in a 55-page ruling.
The move voids a directive put in place under Cuccinelli limiting the consultation time asylum seekers have with legal counsel before an initial interview to determine if they have a credible fear of persecution or torture backing up their asylum request.
If applicants pass such reviews, then they can make their cases to stay in the US to immigration judges.
The ruling also raises questions about other disputed policies aimed at making it harder for immigrants to get and keep jobs in the US.
Moss’s ruling is an implicit reproach of Trump’s practice of only appointing “acting” heads of agencies to avoid complications attached to the removal of appointees who received Senate confirmation.
Other temporary chiefs include Richard Grenell, acting director of national intelligence, and Mick Mulvaney, who’s served as acting White House chief of staff for more than a year.
USCIS officials didn’t return an email on Sunday seeking comment on the ruling.
Immigration activists hailed the judge’s decision as throwing a monkey wrench into Trump’s efforts to keep asylum seekers and immigrants out of the country.
“This is both a victory for the rule of law and a significant blow to the Trump administration’s xenophobic agenda,” Democracy Forward Executive Director Anne Harkavy said.
The dispute centred on a decision by Kevin McAleenan — who at the time was the acting Secretary of Homeland Security — to appoint Cuccinelli to a position that didn’t previously exist in the immigration service after the resignation of Senate-confirmed USCIS director Lee Cissna.