President-elect Trump released another flight of nominations and appointments Thursday. These focus mainly on domestic policy and are useful in revealing Trump’s thinking on domestic security.
Anthony Salisbury
Salisbury was selected to be deputy homeland security adviser working for Stephen Miller. Miller is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Trump’s homeland security adviser; see REPORT: Trump to Appoint Immigration Hawk Stephen Miller as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Salisbury is currently the special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, FL.
Tony manages all of HSI’s complex Federal Law Enforcement investigative programs related to National Security and smuggling violations, including counter-proliferation, financial crimes, commercial fraud, human trafficking, human smuggling, narcotics smuggling, transnational gangs, cyber-crimes, child exploitation, worksite enforcement and document and benefit fraud. Prior to this assignment, Tony served as the Acting Deputy Executive Associate Director (EAD) for the entire ICE/HSI workforce. Previously, he held key leadership field and headquarters assignments for ICE/HSI. Additionally, Tony was selected as the Resident Agent in Charge (RAC) for HSI St. Louis, where he oversaw the day-to-day investigative operations for 86 counties located in Missouri and Illinois, with an emphasis on violent crime, money laundering, narcotics trafficking and child exploitation investigations.
He supervised the activities of HSI offices throughout the Republic of Mexico as the Deputy Attaché. His overseas assignment covered the entire HSI investigative mission, including special interest alien smuggling and high value target apprehensions. Tony pursued trade-based money laundering investigations as the Section Chief for ICE/HSI’s Trade Transparency Unit, notably establishing foreign trade transparency investigation units to combat trade-based money laundering. Tony began his federal law enforcement career as a Deputy United States Marshal prior to joining the former United States Customs Service New York office in 2001. Tony will bring his vast Law Enforcement, counter-narcotics, and counter-cartel experience to the White House where he will serve under Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor.
Caleb Vitello
Vitello is currently the Assistant Director of the Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has been nominated as acting director of ICE. Appointing Vitello as acting director of ICE allows him to take charge on January 20 and serve until he is confirmed by the Senate.
Caleb led the Fugitive Operations Academy, served as Deputy Assistant Director, and directed the National Fugitive Operations Program, providing policy guidance, strategic planning, and operational oversight for efforts to locate, arrest, and remove at-large, dangerous criminals and illegal aliens from the U.S. As Chief of Staff for Enforcement and Removal Operations, he managed daily operations for an organization with a $4.7 Billion Dollar budget and 8,000 employees. At the White House National Security Council, Caleb led initiatives focused on child safety and national security threats.
Caleb’s exceptional leadership, extensive experience, and commitment to ICE’s mission make him an excellent choice to implement my efforts to enhance the safety and security of American communities who have been victimized by illegal alien crime.
Rodney S. Scott
Rodney Scott was nominated Commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection. He is Senior Distinguished Fellow for Border Security at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Until June 2021, he was chief of the US Border Patrol. The Biden White House fired him because he “refused to support President Biden’s directive to stop using legal words like ‘illegal alien’ in favor of descriptors like ‘migrant.'”
Rodney served nearly three decades in the Border Patrol, building vast experience and knowledge in Law Enforcement and Border Security. Rodney served as the 24th Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, where he implemented Remain-in-Mexico, Title 42, Safe Third Agreements, and achieved record low levels of illegal immigration.
He began his career with the Border Patrol in 1992 at the Imperial Beach Station, San Diego Sector. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, he served as an Anti-Terrorism Advisor to the CBP Commissioner, and later, as Deputy Executive Director of the CBP, Office of Anti-Terrorism.
He served as the Chief Patrol Agent for El Centro Sector and the San Diego Sector, before being selected as the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. As the Chief, he led over 22,000 personnel, and was responsible for securing the International Borders of the U.S. between the official ports of entry. After retiring, Rodney has continued to educate politicians and the public about the importance of meaningful Border Security.
All three of these nominations are professionals in border security and immigration enforcement. Given the overlap in career patterns, I can’t help but believe that they are all known entities to Border Czar Tom Homan; see President-Elect Trump Names Tom Homan ‘Border Czar.’ Scott has a longtime relationship with the current head of the Border Patrol (see Border Patrol Chief ‘Excited’ About Incoming Trump Administration). None of them will have to figure out how their slice of the pie works. They know the organizations, the policies, the history, and the people. This is the kind of control that prevents internal sabotage of Trump’s policies.
Brandon Judd
Judd is the recently retired head of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing some 17,000 Border Patrol agents, and has been nominated to be ambassador to Chile. Judd is roundly hated on the left for openly supporting Trump’s immigration policies and the Border Wall while resisting efforts by the Biden Homeland Security apparatus to transform the Border Patrol into yet another failed bureaucracy infested by Marxists.
I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Brandon Judd to serve as the United States Ambassador to Chile. I have personally known and worked with Brandon over the past nine years. Brandon helped me develop and implement the most effective Border Security policies in our Nation’s History. I have also watched as Brandon tirelessly and honorably represented the Border Patrol Agents who elected him as their voice in all matters, especially in their efforts to secure our Great Country’s Borders, and keep all Americans safe. I am confident Brandon will represent the United States in the same manner as he represented all rank-and-file Border Patrol Agents as the President of the National Border Patrol Council. Brandon will do our Country proud!
To me, this reads like a consolation prize for a loyal retainer for whom no place could be found in the new administration. Chile is not a major player in illegal immigration, so I’m writing this off as Trump rewarding Judd for his service while putting him out to pasture.
