‘UNLAWFUL’

USCIS Acting Director’s Appointment Was Unlawful: Judge

Advocacy groups alleged in a 2019 lawsuit that his policies “punish asylum seekers fleeing persecution and undermine American values.”

A federal judge on Sunday ruled in favor of advocacy groups who alleged that Ken Cuccinelli’s appointment to acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Service violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. Cuccinelli was tapped by Homeland Secretary Kevin McAleenan to serve as the principal deputy director of the department—a role he started on June 10, 2019. Cuccinelli announced in July that the agency had reduced the consultation time period for asylum seekers planning for credible-fear interviews from 48 hours to “one full calendar day from the date of arrival at a detention facility,” according to the ruling. The suit, filed by Democracy Forward and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., argued that Cuccinelli’s “unlawful directives issued by an unlawfully appointed official punish asylum seekers fleeing persecution and undermine American values.”