Kevin McAleenan quits as acting Homeland Security secretary; Trump to name successor next week

WASHINGTON – Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is stepping down after just six months on the job.

President Donald Trump announced McAleenan's departure in a pair of messages posted on Twitter late Friday.

"Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security," Trump wrote. "We have worked well together with Border Crossings being way down. Kevin now, after many years in Government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector."

He added, "Congratulations Kevin, on a job well done! I will be announcing the new Acting Secretary next week. Many wonderful candidates!"

McAleenan, 48, was named acting secretary in April, replacing Kirstjen Nielsen, who resigned after a tumultuous relationship with Trump.

McAleenan’s departure comes as Trump has been increasingly frustrated over his inability to carry out his campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and stem the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S.

A new book claims that a frustrated Trump at one point suggested radical and even violent ways to stop illegal border crossings – including lining the Mexican border with a moat filled with snakes and alligators and shooting migrants in the legs.

Trump denied that he had sought a moat along the border, writing on Twitter: "I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough."

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McAleenan expressed his own frustrations with the job during an interview with The Washington Post last week.

McAleenan complained that he had lost command of the public messaging from his department and said he lacks some of the authority he was promised when he took the job. McAleenan also acknowledged that he was losing the battle to keep department from being used as a tool for a partisan immigration agenda.

But in a message posted on Twitter late Friday, McAleenan thanked Trump for appointing him to the acting secretary job and said the department had made "tremendous progress" over the past six months in mitigating the border security and humanitarian crisis along the border.

"I will work with the White House and DHS leadership teams on a smooth transition and remain forever grateful to the men and women of the department for their steadfast efforts to secure our country," he said.

McAleenan served as U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner before Trump tapped him to become acting Homeland Security secretary. He has held senior posts in Customs and Border Protecting dating back to President George W. Bush’s administration.

Last month, McAleenan announced the end of the practice his department refers to as “catch and release.” The term refers to the process in which the federal government must release migrant families, mostly from Central America, apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border into the interior of the United States to begin the process of seeking asylum. That process can take years, given the massive backlogs in the country's immigration courts.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Homeland Security: Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan stepping down