Secure border more than wall, says Homeland pick

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, testifying here Tuesday on Capitol Hill, told lawmakers in a questionnaire that his top priority would be stopping the “illegal movement of people and things.”
Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, testifying here Tuesday on Capitol Hill, told lawmakers in a questionnaire that his top priority would be stopping the “illegal movement of people and things.”

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security favors a wall to secure the border with Mexico but said Tuesday that such a structure alone won't be enough.


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"A physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job," retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during a confirmation hearing. "Certainly it has to be a layered approach."

In a lengthy questionnaire, Kelly told senators that if confirmed as the fifth homeland security secretary, his top priority would be stopping the "illegal movement of people and things."

Answering questions about his plans to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs and curb illegal border crossings, Kelly told lawmakers border security shouldn't focus only on the frontier with Mexico but also look "1,500 miles south" in Central America. He said the U.S. should help address violence in three Central American countries -- Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala -- along with demand for drugs in the United States to stem both the flow of drugs and people seeking refuge from violence.

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Members of the committee pressed Kelly to specify his stances on immigration enforcement, border security and some of Trump's more controversial suggestions during the campaign, including the possibility of a registration system for Muslim immigrants.

Kelly told lawmakers he does not support any registration of people in the United States on the basis of ethnicity or religion. He also said he accepts with "high confidence" reports from the intelligence community that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Kelly walked a fine line in his answers about how Trump's Homeland Security Department will carry out efforts to find and deport illegal aliens. Asked about the fate of young immigrants protected from deportation by an order of President Barack Obama, Kelly told Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California that "the law would guide him" in every decision he will make if confirmed.

He added that he did not anticipate young immigrants who have not committed crimes in the United States being a top enforcement priority.

"There's a big spectrum of people who need to be dealt with," Kelly said. "Those categories would be prioritized. I would guess this category might not be the highest priority for removal."

Kelly is one of several retired generals tapped for top positions by Trump.

Kelly is widely respected by Democrats and Republicans alike. As the former head of the military's Southern Command, based in south Florida, he routinely worked with the Department of Homeland Security to combat human trafficking and drug smuggling.

In the questionnaire, Kelly said he is committed to telling "truth to power." The commitment addresses concerns that some lawmakers have about the president-elect's willingness to take in points of view that clash with his own.

Kelly told the committee that his greatest successes during 40-plus years in the military are "taking care of my people, speaking 'truth to power,' and successfully completing every mission I have ever been assigned." He said he has worked with many senior U.S. officials during his career.

"I never hesitated to disagree with any of them, or make difficult recommendations when appropriate," Kelly said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the panel's ranking Democrat, said his answer was "music to my ears" and promised that Kelly would hear from her often if she didn't think he was following through on the pledge.

In newly released ethics disclosures, Kelly said that if confirmed he will resign positions with multiple consulting and government contractor companies and defense contractor DynCorp. Kelly listed his salary with DynCorp, a company awarded a 2016 contract from the Homeland Security Department to train Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as more than $166,000.

Kelly joined the Marines in 1970. He served three tours in Iraq. He also was the highest-ranking officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. His son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in November 2010 in Afghanistan.

hurdles few for Mattis

As the Senate moves on other confirmation hearings, the chamber's members signaled little opposition Tuesday to the nomination of James Mattis to be defense secretary. Lawmakers need to amend a law to allow the retired Marine Corps general to head the Pentagon.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, senators explored the pitfalls of permitting retired military officers to serve as defense secretary. But two witnesses assured lawmakers that Mattis' depth of experience and temperament warranted the approval of legislation to override a prohibition against former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years holding the job.

The ban exists to uphold the commitment to civilian control of the military.

The committee will consider the legislation when it meets Thursday for Mattis' confirmation hearing. Mattis retired from the Marine Corps as a four-star general in 2013 and had been a battlefield commander for most of his career. The law was last waived for George Marshall in 1950, a former five-star Army general and secretary of state.

There are no indications that any of Trump's Cabinet choices are at risk of being rejected by the Senate and Republican leaders insist that all of Trump's choices will be confirmed.

"We are in process of having all the hearings as rapidly as we can," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. "It is still my hope that regardless of the hearing schedule, some of which has been moved slightly, we will be in position to confirm a significant number of the president's nominees on day one."

McConnell said he especially hoped to have most if not all of Trump's national security team in place on the first day of his presidency.

Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., had been pressuring McConnell to reconsider the packed schedule of hearings, suggesting that Democrats deserve more time to carefully review them.

"This proposed Cabinet is unlike any other in terms of its wealth, corporate connections and hard right ideological views, and the American people deserve nothing less than open and deliberate hearings going forward," Schumer said in a statement. "Democrats will do everything we can to make sure that happens."

Information for this article was contributed by Alicia A. Caldwell, Kevin Freking and Richard Lardner of The Associated Press and by Ed O'Keefe, Emma Brown, Kelsey Snell and Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post

A Section on 01/11/2017

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