A Shift By The President On Immigration Reform?

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President Barack Obama’s selection of a former top Pentagon lawyer to head the Homeland Security Department suggests the agency will be stepping back from its preoccupation with immigration to focus more on protecting the nation from attack.
Jeh C. Johnson, if confirmed by the Senate, would replace Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who left the DHS last month to become president of the University of California system.
Unlike Napolitano, Johnson has spent most of his career dealing with weighty national security issues as a top military lawyer. Issues he handled included ending the military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy for gay service members and changing military commissions to try terrorism suspects rather than using civilian courts. He also oversaw the escalation of the use of unmanned drone strikes during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as general counsel at the Defense Department.
Napolitano, who came to the DHS after serving as governor of Arizona, made clear that her top priority was immigration reform and routinely championed the issue in congressional testimony.  That is unlikely to be the case with Johnson, who left the Defense Department in 2012 and previously served as the general counsel of the Air Force under President Bill Clinton. Earlier in his career, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he handled public corruption cases.
Obama repeatedly has declared immigration reform a top priority, saying as recently as Thursday that he will push for a landmark overhaul bill this year. Based on Johnson’s resume, which does not include immigration issues, that means the White House likely would lead the push for legal changes.
The Homeland Security Department’s responsibilities include routine immigration issues, cybersecurity, protecting the president and keeping would-be terrorists off airplanes. The DHS also includes the Coast Guard.
To read the full story:  http://nbclatino.com/2013/10/18/homeland-security-selection-suggests-shift-from-immigration-to-national-security/


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