Former Honolulu Resident Named To Head Homeland Security
Kevin McAleenan is now the acting director of the agency.
Kevin McAleenan has been named to head — at least temporarily — the federal Department of Homeland Security following the abrupt resignation of聽Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday.
McAleenan, as we’ve reported a couple of times, was born and partly raised in Honolulu.
And while he may bring the Aloha Spirit to the beleaguered agency and it’s struggle to deal with a flood of immigrants at the southern border not to mention President Trump’s push to build a $6 billion wall at the border, most political observers don’t think he’ll be in position long enough to have much of an impact.
McAleenan, a lawyer, was first brought to Customs and Border Protection by President Barack Obama. He has made his views on human dignity and humanitarianism in dealing with undocumented immigrants well known, as
He was named commissioner of CBP in 2017 by Trump. He was supported by Gov. David Ige and then-Attorney General Doug Chin, who was in the midst of a beef with the Tump administration over the so-called Muslim travel ban.聽Read our coverage of his nomination here.
He also had strong support from Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono when he was confirmed to the top CBP post by the Senate in 2018. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, however, was skeptical and voted against him.
Did we mention McAleenan’s middle name is Kealoha?
