Washington, April 10 (IANS): Claire Grady, acting Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, has become the latest official to resign after the agency's Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced she was leaving her post.
Grady's imminent resignation, announced on Tuesday by outgoing Secretary Nielsen, paves the way for President Donald Trump's pick Kevin McAleenan to lead the department in acting capacity, CNN reported.
Following Nielsen's "forced" resignation on Sunday, Grady was statutorily next in line to become acting Secretary.
"Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady has offered the President her resignation, effective tomorrow. For the last two years, Claire has served the department with excellence and distinction. She has been an invaluable asset to the department -- a steady force and a knowledgeable voice," Nielsen tweeted on Tuesday.
Trump is likely to revamp the department into one that he believes "would more effectively reduce illegal border crossings" and support his hardline immigration efforts to build more barriers at the border and curtail migrants' prospects for asylum, the Hill magazine reported.
The departures from the agency alarmed lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some suggesting that Trump was impeding progress on his own policies.
"The President has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he's made for his campaign, throughout his 2&1/2 years of presidency," Senator Chuck Grassley told The Washington Post.
"He's pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal," Grassley said.
