Acting DHS Sec. Chad Wolf finally resigns from office he’s been unlawfully occupying

“Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted Wolf in a statement on his announced resignation days before he was to help coordinate security for the presidential inauguration,” BuzzFeeds News reported. “For months we have known Chad Wolf has been serving illegally in his position, so the timing of his resignation from the Department today is questionable,” Thompson said.

Thompson said in the report that Unlawful Chad “has chosen to resign during a time of national crisis and when domestic terrorists may be planning additional attacks on our government.” Recall that while he launched federal agents on outraged citizens protesting the police killings of Black people, that same force was missing in action when it came to seditionists in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Thompson noted that if Unlawful Chad is citing court rulings in his resignation, then his deputy Ken Cuccinelli, similarly unlawfully installed at DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, should also be quitting.

Replacing Unlawful Chad as acting DHS secretary until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in next week is Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Pete Gaynor. Experts worried that that Gaynor would possibly do a redo on the anti-immigrant and anti-asylum policies that have been struck down by the courts due to Unlawful Chad’s status, but a subsequent statement from him may have calmed some of those fears, at least slightly.

What’s for sure is that Unlawful Chad is leaving office in disgrace. “Don’t forget,” tweeted MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff. “Chad Wolf prepared an early memo for Trump’s then-DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, outlining border policy options, including systematically separating families arriving at the border.” Immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice noted that “[a]lthough he was never officially confirmed by Congress, that didn’t stop Wolf from implementing cruel and unconscionably inhumane immigration policies that will plague our system for years to come.”

Unlawful Chad will likely try to rehabilitate his image like the former DHS secretary he once served as chief of staff to, but don’t forget he was a willing participant in this disaster before us, including corruptly using his office to try to keep Trump in power. After launching what was essentially a campaign tour ahead of the presidential election, the chief of Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act unit agreed to open a probe into Wolf and other DHS officials.

Many also noted that pro-immigrant programs that Unlawful Chad helped to try to end, like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, outlasted him after all. “Chad Wolf did nothing but inflict pain and suffering through family separation, undermining asylum laws, and ordering a violent response to peaceful protests,” tweeted California Rep. Barbara Lee. “Good riddance.”