The Trump administration is considering Energy Secretary Rick Perry to replace Secretary John Kelly at the Department of Homeland Security, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Sources told Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy and Jennifer Jacobs, “White House officials are considering others for the position in addition to Perry” to replace Kelly, who was sworn in as White House chief of staff on Monday.
Some administration officials favor replacing Kelly with Texas Republican Rep. Mike McCaul, but Perry served as governor of Texas for 15 years and has dealt with border issues. Though his immigration stance is not totally aligned with Trump’s.
Bloomberg reports that during “Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign foundered after he accused his Republican opponents of not having a ‘heart’ about immigrants” and that “Perry helped advance legislation that let undocumented children of immigrants pay in-state tuition for college.”
Perry supports building a U.S.-Mexico border wall, but said as recently as July 2016 the wall is “not going to happen.” One month later, Perry told “Fox & Friends” Trump would secure the border by building a wall.
“Donald Trump is going to secure that border and all in the different ways you have to do that,” Perry said. “Part of that is a wall. Part of it is electronics, part of it’s boots on the ground, aviation assets.”
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