The changes at DHS suggest some career staff hope to avoid antagonizing incoming Trump appointees
The Department of Homeland Security is rolling back progressive internal policies in anticipation of a second Trump presidency, according to internal agency documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
One example, described as “superfluous signaling” by one senior career staff member, is a memo entitled “Commitment to Nondiscrimination in Department of Homeland Security Activities.” That memo, which will no longer be released, largely focused on behavior that is already outlawed in the federal government, such as forbidding any “reliance on generalized stereotypes involving any individual characteristic.”
“It’s not clear why this memo was ever even written,” said one senior DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We can’t discriminate against anyone, but I guess this is what they prefer we do instead of deportations. But now I guess they don’t want to piss anyone off.”
The changes at DHS suggest that some career officials there will cooperate somewhat with the upcoming Trump administration’s agenda. One senior career staff member said that many of his colleagues are in a “wait and see” position but are also careful not to antagonize President-elect Donald Trump’s political appointees.
Staff at the agency say the memo is part of a broader effort to ingratiate itself with new leadership. Withholding the memo, one senior official said, is just one step among many that the agency is expected to take as new appointees are predicted to roll back a number of Biden-era policies.
Those appointees include former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Tom Homan, who has pledged to dramatically overhaul the agency. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, an immigration restrictionist, proclaimed last month that “America is for Americans and Americans only.”
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
DHS career staff have felt demoralized since 2021, with liberal political appointees instituting a number of new policies that restricted the conduct of those tasked to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Staff from far-left non-profits, which often called for the abolition of ICE itself, were regularly put in charge of critical immigration programs.
In one recent case, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service official was caught promoting illegal immigration on social media channels such as TikTok and YouTube. It does not appear that the individual, who serves as an attorney for the agency, was punished.
Both Republicans and internal DHS staff say personnel decisions such as those are partially to blame for the historic levels of illegal immigration that occurred under the Biden administration. The record number of border crossings—which totaled more than eight million—since 2021 has been cited as a reason why Vice President Kamala Harris lost in her bid against Trump.
Both Homan and Miller have said they plan to prioritize deportations on day one of Trump’s second term, a change from the Biden administration. Within the first year of Biden’s presidency, deportations plummeted 90 percent.
