Kris Kobach Says He’s In Talks With Trump Administration About DHS Secretary Post

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Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said he is in talks with the White House about potentially becoming the next secretary of Homeland Security.

President Donald Trump is set to find a replacement for outgoing Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Kobach is in the running to fill that role.

“[Trump’s] got an important decision to make,” Kobach told The Washington Examiner. “If he wants to have me serve in this capacity, and thinks it would be the best thing for the country, I would certainly do so.”

Kobach appeared Monday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” about his ideas for securing the border.

Not every member of the GOP is a fan of Kobach.

Republican Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts shot down rumors about Kobach’s prospects of being confirmed by the Republican-led Senate on Tuesday.

“Don’t go there, we can’t confirm him,” Roberts told The Kansas City Star.

Kobach told Tucker Carlson that if given the opportunity, he would immediately implement policies that do not require congressional approval, such as deploying FEMA trailers to border cities and having Mexico sign the Safe Third Country Agreement.

“Unless you sign the Safe Third Country Agreement, so that any asylum applicant has to apply to the safe first country they step foot in,” he said. “They can’t walk all the way through Mexico and then say, ‘Oh, we’re applying for asylum here in the United States.’”

He also said DHS leadership “has been unwilling to execute many of the president’s plans.”

“I have been in the room when the president has given express orders to leadership at DHS and been assured that yes, those orders will be carried out, and then a year later nothing has happened,” he added.

Nielsen, who left her position Wednesday after intense scrutiny about her handling of Trump’s border agenda, was one component of a bevy of DHS and senior immigration personnel changes.

Other DHS officials have announced their resignations already or are rumored to be soon leaving. This comes in the wake of reports that immigration hawks like White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller have exerted more influence over border policy in recent weeks.

Trump was reportedly mulling the decision to appoint Kobach as an “immigration czar” to coordinate his border policies across federal agencies, according to The Associated Press.

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