Chief of U.S. asylum office reassigned as White House pushes for tighter immigration controls
Source: Washington Post
The head of the asylum office at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is being removed from his job and reassigned, a move that follows multiple White House-directed attempts to raise new barriers to those seeking humanitarian refuge in the United States.
John Lafferty, a career official who has run the asylum division for six years, will become deputy director at the D.C.-area USCIS processing center, according to an email sent to staff on Wednesday. The position appears to be a demotion.
Lafferty received a leadership award last year from the agency’s then-director, L. Francis Cissna. But the asylum division of USCIS under Lafferty has been a source of frustration to immigration hard-liners in the White House, especially senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
Cissna was pushed out in May, when the White House installed former Virginia attorney general and conservative activist Ken Cuccinelli as acting director.
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By Nick MiroffSeptember 4 at 6:11 PM
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/chief-of-us-asylum-office-reassigned-as-white-house-pushes-for-tighter-immigration-controls/2019/09/04/0ac3705e-cf4e-11e9-8c1c-7c8ee785b855_story.html