GOP lawmakers call for ICE officer linked to anti-deportation group not to receive civil service protections

A group of House Republicans led by Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia sent a letter Wednesday demanding that a Biden administration appointee who worked for an anti-deportation organization not be granted civil service protections, according to a copy obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News. Foundation

The DCNF previously reported this Claire Trickler-McNulty — currently the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director for the Office of Immigration Program Evaluations, who supervises policies on how the agency detains foreign nationals subject to removal from the country: worked by an organization that opposed the deportation of illegal immigrant children. Clyde and 34 other House Republicans wrote a letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kiran Ahuja demanding that Trickler-McNulty not convert her job from political appointee to official, which would allow her serve beyond Biden's term and into a future Republican administration.

“Ms. Trickler-McNulty has previously claimed that she used her previous public service position as a platform from which to resist changes to ICE proposed by the previous administration … during the Trump administration, Ms . Trickler-McNulty was working from the inside to thwart the Administration's initiatives,” the lawmakers, including House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, wrote. “Ms. Trickler-McNulty should not be rewarded with the protections of federal employee status to implement his own woke agenda.”

Read the exclusive letter here:

Clyde, Andrew and Mark Gree… for Daily Caller News Foundation

The process of converting a political appointment to a civil service position is known as “digging,” and requires OPM approval under guidelines established during the Trump administration, with many requests denied. Officials, unlike political appointees, cannot be fired at will of his workplace, with dismissal by law requiring several administrative procedures which are subject to appeal.

The letter details Trickler-McNulty's allegations that seek to enact more protections for illegal immigrants and other foreign nationals who are in the United States illegally, who would normally be processed by ICE for removal from the country. He says he is leading efforts to close ICE detention facilities while supporting alternative programs that allow these aliens to be released while they complete their procedures.

“Currently, under Ms. Trickler-McNulty's design at ICE, they are closing existing operational ICE processing centers across the country, including one in House Speaker Mike Johnson's congressional district, for divert these funds to social service programs with NGOs,” the signatories wrote. “Ms. Trickler-McNulty is part of a group of political current and former ICE employees who are the architects of 'Abolish ICE.' They are systematically replacing the enforcement, enforcement and removal of aliens il ·legal for “catch and release” social service programs.

Another key player in this contract scenario is Claire Trickler-McNulty, who worked directly under Lorenzen-Strait when she left ICE in 2019. pic.twitter.com/8tu8LAt8AA

— Bearskin (@BearskinCowl) October 13, 2023

In 2020, Trickler-McNulty's employer, Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), signed a letter along with Abolish ICE Denver.

The DCNF previously reported, exclusively, that Trickley-McNulty was given contract signing authority on behalf of ICE. The letter's signatories claim he has used his authority to enter into contracts with groups hostile to ICE's mission to deport illegal immigrants and other illegally present aliens.

“[S]has used the past three years to redirect the agency's mission toward NGO-provided welfare services for those who come here illegally. This includes, for example, the ICE Case Management Pilot Program, overseen by Church World Service, which supports the defunding of ICE,” the signatories wrote. “Mrs. Trickler-McNulty's office is pushing a massive program com [Release and Report Management] to expand social services to the 6.1 million illegal immigrants on the non-detained record.”

In addition to Clyde and Green, the letter's signatories include several prominent conservative members of Congress, including Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus Home, Bob Good. The letter was copied to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was dismissed by the House of Representatives on February 13, and Acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner.

ICE and OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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