DHS chief denies WH pressure on immigrants

ActingSecretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke on Friday denied reportsthat White House Chief of Staff John Kelly pressured her to endprotections for tens of thousands of immigrants, and said she plans toremain in the Trump administration.The Washington Post reported onThursday that Kelly pressured Duke to end what is called temporaryprotected status for tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the UnitedStates.The newspaper also reported that Duke has informed Kelly that she plans to resign.The New York Times later reported that Kelly “made an 11th-hour plea” to Duke that she end the protections.“Therecent media reports regarding the TPS decision-making process areseriously flawed,” Duke said in a statement late on Friday evening.Shesaid she had conversations with Kelly, the former secretary of homelandsecurity, leading up to her decision, but that he “consistentlyreiterated that, as the Acting Secretary, the current decisions weremine to make and should be done in accordance with the existing law”.“Atno time did he pressure me to terminate TPS for Nicaragua, Honduras orEl Salvador: any reports otherwise are false,” she added.In the end,Duke extended the benefits for Honduran immigrants until July 2018,though officials said it could then be terminated. Duke decided to endthe special status for Nicaraguan immigrants, however, and it willexpire in January 2019.Duke said it was “a tremendous honor” toserve at DHS, and said she planned to continue in the department’ssecond-highest position, deputy secretary, once Kirstjen Nielsen, thenominee for DHS secretary, wins Senate confirmation.“I have no plans to go anywhere and reports to the contrary are untrue,” Duke said.Thousandsfrom both Nicaragua and Honduras were given the special status in 1999after Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America.In all, temporary protected status protects more than 300,000 people living in the United States.