Ali Noorani: The President's Homeland Security Shake Up Puts America 'At Great Risk'

President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on immigration and border security at the U.S. Border Patrol Calexico Station in Calexico, Calif., Friday April 5, 2019. Trump headed to the border with Mexico to make a renewed push for border security as a central campaign issue for his 2020 re-election.

Arjun Singh is a producer for Boston Public Radio. A California native, Arjun moved to Boston to study international relations at Boston University. Prior to working at WGBH, Arjun worked at a tech company and for a political campaign.

April 11, 2019

President Trump shook up the Department of Homeland Security last week when he forced former Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen to resign, after berating her for not being tough enough on border security.

Speaking with Boston Public Radio on Thursday, Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said that if anything, the president’s singular focus on the migrant crisis will actually make the nation less secure.

“It seems that the president is deciding to run the entire immigration system out of the Oval Office,” Noorani said. “I think this leaves the country at a great risk from a national security perspective. If we don’t have stability at the leadership of DHS, there are a lot of folks within that large and important agency who are asking ... who’s in charge.”

Noorani, who has been an adamant critic of Trump’s immigration policy, says that the president’s decision making is short sighted, misguided and that his fear of immigrants has little basis in fact.

“The president is doing this because he is politically terrified of women, children, mothers, [and] fathers seeking protection in the U.S., and that’s just not good policy,” Noorani said.