Ken Cuccinelli, the former acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, delivered a sharp rebuke of the Biden administration’s immigration protocols this week, arguing that a departure from established legal norms effectively handed out work authorization “like candy.”
Appearing on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show,” Cuccinelli centered his criticism on the use of parole authority. Under standard immigration law, he explained, parole is intended to be a discretionary tool used on a strict “case-by-case” basis. However, he accused the previous administration of flipping this standard to process migrants “en masse,” a move he says bypassed legal qualifications and flooded the system with millions of individuals.
“They gave them out like candy,” Cuccinelli said, referring to the Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), commonly known as work permits. “There are no qualifications other than meeting the immigration legal qualifications.”
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The CDL Controversy
The interview highlighted a specific downstream effect of these broad authorizations: the issuance of Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) to migrants who may lack English proficiency. Cuccinelli pointed to recent incidents involving 18-ton commercial trucks as evidence of a safety crisis.
“We let people come across the border… gave them work authorization and then said, ‘Oh, you can’t speak English, let’s just give you a license to commercially drive an 18-ton truck,'” Cuccinelli stated.
He expressed support for recent moves by the Department of Transportation to scrutinize these licenses more aggressively, noting that safety regulations regarding heavy vehicles exist “for good reasons.”
‘A Feature, Not a Mistake’
When pressed on how such policies could be enacted despite potential safety risks, Cuccinelli rejected the idea of administrative incompetence. Instead, he characterized the situation as a deliberate policy choice—a “feature,” not a “bug.”
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“They wanted to bring millions of people in,” he argued, suggesting that the administration was aware of the potential for negative outcomes, including crime and safety hazards, but proceeded anyway. According to the former official, the only hesitation from the Biden team during their tenure related to “optics,” rather than the substantive impact on American communities.
New Threats Targeting Law Enforcement
The conversation concluded with a pivot to national security, addressing a reported New Year’s Eve plot involving four individuals indicted for conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. The indictment alleged plans to target U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with pipe bombs.
Cuccinelli condemned the plot as “terrorism” and warned against any political rhetoric that might minimize violence against law enforcement. “Until this country is willing to accept zero terrorism… we’re going to continue to suffer from this sort of violent affliction,” he said.
The former official closed by emphasizing that reversing the “damage” he attributed to the Biden years would likely take years of enforcement and deportation efforts.
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