Conservatives want Cuccinelli for DHS, will ‘make America great again’ – Washington Examiner

A broad coalition of conservatives are urging President Trump to pick former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as his Homeland Security chief and immigration czar.

In a letter to be sent to Trump and obtained by Secrets, 19 leaders of groups that champion constitutional rights, the Tea Party, the Second Amendment, conservative media, and economic freedom, said they “have every confidence in his abilities; his tough on crime stance, his solution-oriented approach, his dedication to the rule of law, his love for America, and most importantly, his loyalty to the cause of making America great again.”

Reports suggested that besides his acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who replaces ousted Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump is considering Cuccinelli and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Both are considered hardliners on the immigration issue.

In their support for Cuccinelli, the 19 wrote, “In this time of national crisis and emergency over national security and immigration, Ken’s background as a no-nonsense law enforcement officer and a major constitutional lawyer, along with his reputation as a fighter, combined with his extensive media experience, including television, make him ideally suited to carry out the duties of the Department of Homeland Security and your immigration agenda.”

The letter war organized by Conservative HQ Chairman Richard Viguerie. Among those signing were former senator and Heritage boss Jim DeMint; Media Research Center chief L. Brent Bozell, Ginni Thomas; head of Liberty Consulting and wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas; two executives at FreedomWorks, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America.

A senior Trump aide this week said that the final pick for the job might be somebody not nationally known.

The official also said that the pick will be a hardliner who shares the president’s view that illegal immigration, and paths into the U.S. like asylum claims, must be curbed.

The official dubbed the new immigration czar as a “battlefield commander,” adding, “We have to have somebody in the battlefield on a day-to-day basis, in like a forward theater, that’s actually making decisions in real time to meet deadlines and meet targets,” said the official.

Cuccinelli has long been an outspoken law and order conservative. He barely lost the Virginia gubernatorial race to Terry McAuliffe in 2013.