Ken Cuccinelli Emerges as Public Face, and Irritant, of Homeland Security

Our constitution states that “immigrants” seeking U.S. citizenship be self-supporting.” what does our country say to the 16 year old girl from Honduras with a baby who cannot speak English and has no means of support for herself or her child? How many thousands of young girls are in the same situation? Should we take them in, put them on the dole, or send them back to their homeland with a year’s supply of birth control pills?

Good reporting on a cruel, antiAmerican politician. But you cannot say he is a "devout Catholic," based on Church teachings.

Obviously highly intelligent in the intellectual sense, based on his his educational accomplishment. Having said that, embarrassed that he's from my neck of the woods. Wonder what warped him in this into cold individual who appears to totally lack any compassion.

To quote the article, “A devout Catholic, Mr. Cuccinelli”: there are some of us Catholics who would note the contrast between his being “devout” and his being Christian given the manner in which he pompously promotes policies that exhibit no sense of empathy or compassion, such as some described early in this story. The saddest part is that this lack of empathy and compassion reflects poorly on whatever Catholic education was given to him during his youth!

I despise Cuccinelli. He is a bigot and the worst of hypocrites. But, I must say I am disappointed to see my friends on the left attack and/or cite his ethnicity. I don’t recall any mention of the heritage of John Kelly, Trump’s former Chief of Staff, or that of any other of Trump’s hatchet men and women whose name did not end in a vowel. That Cucinneli’s family on his father’s side at one point resided in Italy is no different than any other past or present Trump immigration official whose family at one point surely came to America from somewhere else, likely Europe. Yet, only Cucinnelli has his background addressed. Singling our the Italian American seems to reveal some prejudice on the left.

A “devout Catholic”. Really? By what metric?

Sounds like a four word phrase often condensed to a a three letter expression. He is a perfect fit for our current President and a shame for what the USA has represented.

Steven Miller, the big bad millennial of hardcore immigration policy, has been usurped by Mr. Cuccinelli? Or will they tag team each other? Either way, they are both despicable human beings led by an even more despicable human being. One wonders how these men were raised without a scintilla of compassion, empathy, kindness,or decency. True sociopaths. I shudder to think what new immigration atrocities are being planned by these three. Is there someone with impeccable moral integrity who can will up and call them and their policies out for what they are? Someone everyone holds in high esteem? A person everyone respects and will listen to? Who? Who do we have that will do that?

This guy is a religious zealot which is perfect for this morally bankrupt administration.

In the words of Pope Francis, "Who am I to judge?', but how can this guy profess to be a "devout" Catholic? Has he even read the Beatitudes?

Hopefully he won't last a long as Nielsen.

To quote the great Mark Twain, "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."

Perhaps Mr. Cuccinelli, as a self-proclaimed good Catholic, would revisit Christ's admonition: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Mt 18:10)....And from Pope Francis: It is not just about migrants: "The signs of meanness we see around us heighten 'our fear of ‘the other’, the unknown, the marginalized, the foreigner.... Faced with the arrival of migrants and refugees knocking on our door in search of protection, security and a better future (...) the progress of our peoples depends above all on our openness to being touched and moved by those who knock at our door." https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-05/pope-francis-message-world-day-migrants-refugees-full-text.html

Back in the 80s a guy in his early 20s appeared at my small restaurant in California and wanted to apply for dishwashing work. He was from El Salvador and spoke just a little English. He didn't smile or look me in the eye and almost seemed a bit dangerous. But a few others in the kitchen from El Salvador vouched for him. So I hired him. He worked for me for the next 15 years and was probably the best employee I ever had. He told me after several years that he had crawled through a drainage pipe at the Mexico-Arizona border, crossing illegally, and prayed that he would be alive once he got through. He was illegal for many years and then was given amnesty and got a green card, several years later his US Citizenship. He bought a house, got married, raised 4 children. Oh, he is also one of the finest people I've ever known. I often wonder about that day he came and I was a little afraid of him. What kind of immigrants do Americans want? The right kind?

A member in good standing of a Roman Catholic parish he may be, but devout? That would presuppose a level of humility and compassion entirely missing in this man. One would think that a person whose own ancestors came to this country seeking opportunity unavailable in their home country, who were mistreated because they were from SOUTHERN Europe (the horror!), who claims to worship a God who enjoins us to welcome strangers and help the poor, might realize that he is being neither righteous nor just in his efforts to curtail immigration in such draconian ways. But no.

As far as I am concerned, unless I can procure a document attesting to my adoption by an Indian tribe, I’m here illegally and probably more so than any Mayan or person of Aztec descent who happens to have crossed the line imposed by the US government as a peace settlement after defeating Mexico. Long sentence but there!

Some of his positions such as described in Virginia are positions which I would vigorously oppose, yet here we have another in the incessant drumbeat of Times articles opposed to any enforcement of our immigration laws. Every Times article which I remember about immigration attempts to conflate opposition to immigration as racist. And attempts to question the motives of anyone descended from immigrants (as we all are) who opposes illegal immigration, describing them as somehow being hypocrites, as though times have not changed, and as though our country was not presently overpopulated, which it is.

There is an immigration policy and enforcement vacuum in America that Democrats have not only failed to address, they have completely ignored any rational discourse on the issue. Democrats are as defiant as Republicans are about the issue. Where does that leave the majority of average Americans? Choosing between extremes. I’d like to see some rational discourse on the issue. Not hateful anger. Not hyper-emotional blind empathy. But a look at the issues and some common sense solutions. This is no longer the days of Ellis Island when the population was only 100 million and immigrants were required to get health and mental checks, to learn English and assimilate. No other nation on earth allows people to cross their borders illegally (without any health, mental, criminal checks) and live off of the taxpayer dime.

A "street fighter." Best description I've heard of Trump. And, I'll bet he's proud of the lable.

I cannot take the Cuccinelli nonsense anymore. He and I were partners in a large law firm when I discovered that my client was attempting to defraud the state of NY on a multibillion dollar bid. I retained one of the former US Attorneys for SDNY to represent me in trying to convince the firm to withdraw. In a meeting held on a Sunday which included the chairman of the firm and the managing partner of the firm and Cuccinelli and me and my lawyers he walked out half way through the meeting. Apparently he was bored. The firm stayed in, I got out of the case. My mother was a devout Catholic. She is turning over in her grave to hear this sick excuse of a human being called a devout Catholic.

Ken Cuccinelli grew up in my hometown, Edison, New Jersey in Middlesex County. It's a town with no Main Street--a collection of housing developments built from the 1950s on. When Mr. Cuccinelli lived there, it was populated almost completely by families who'd moved there from somewhere else, usually New York City, Long Island, or the urban areas of northern New Jersey. In other words, these families MIGRATED from inner cities to a NJ suburb, often to get away from "those people." Like Mr. Cucinelli, I am Italian-American. My grandparents, like his, MIGRATED in the early 1900s, from southern Italy, WITH NO MONEY. They came in the wave of immigration btw. 1880 and 1920 that brought Italians, Poles, and Eastern Europeans (read: Jews) to this country TO SEEK A BETTER LIFE. The children of these immigrants were, as was Mr. Cucinelli, assimilated into American life because the ruling white majority found it beneficial to consider them white (although, strictly speaking, they are not), since their spending put money into the pockets of those already here. Read: Working Toward Whiteness, by David Roediger. (Also, during WWII, Italians, like Yogi Berra, were small enough to fit inside tanks to battle Nazi Germany.) Until the Immigration Act of 1924, which was passed, as one Congressional sponsor said, to end the 40-year tide of "racial lepers" coming to our shores. Mr. Cuccinelli denies or is ignorant of his own history. His actions mark his name in the annals of perfidy.

Cuccinelli, Kobach, Pence: all failures in their own states, rejected by the citizens who knew them best, all welcomed by Trump for their exceptional skills in promoting bigotry and intolerance.

This man needs to do a “good examination of his conscience”. A follower of Christ, as he makes claim, would not deprive sick children of essential treatments. This surely is not consistent with the teachings of Christ. Something or someone in his past must be a part of his bitterness and lack of compassion. Mr. Cuccinelli, please do some soul searching.

Given the 'acting' nature of every leader in DHS, can their directives, warrants, or other actions withstand legal scrutiny? Couldn't a detained immigrant challenge their detention on the basis that Kevin McAleenan does not have congressional-approved authority to detain people? Couldn't anyone affected by Cuccinelli's directives on citizenship applications challenge his authority, which has not been sanctioned by congress? I would love to see some court cases go forward based on the fact that any 'acting' officials do not have real authority under the Constitution.

Trump has really picked up the pace with this hire. Another one drained out of the swamp into the administration and now thrust center stage to run interference. Trump's unorthodox vetting system is exposing previous unseen stranger danger. One by one we know who they are, where they are, and what they are up to... kind of like a registry combined with White House detention.

As the daughter of Italian American immigrants, who were factory workers in the early part of the last century, I remember being on the receiving end of bigotry and contempt at church, school and work. I am still asked how much I know about the Mafia. I lived long enough to see Italian Americans behave similarly to more recent immigrants. I find the meanness and abuse of power of the likes of Scalia, Cuccinelli and other Italian Americans appalling. I’d love to know how many illegal immigrant ghosts lurk in their backgrounds as they do in mine.

There is a lot of programs that need to be funded going forward, medicare for all, tuition subsidies and laws to preserve the environment (which will come at a heavy costs) among others. We are already deficit spending by over a trillion dollars, raise the taxes to 70% for the wealthy and 50% for the rest of the middle class. Even if all that we would not begin to cover healthcare alone. How can we afford to have a large group of immigrants who will put further burden on the investments we need to make. Immigrants able to care for themselves and who can add to the GDP today that more than covers for them when they retire, should be welcome regardless of race. The rest denied regardless of circumstance, asylum being exempt of course.

In terms of enforcing compliance with immigration laws, is there any comparison with other countries actions? I don't see the policy items advocated by this administration being so different. There have definitely been issues with compliance and how wrong is it to either enforce existing rules or legislate new ones?

Ken Cuccinelli is the former governor who forced women to undergo vaginal ultrasounds - which were completely unnecessary - to force his religious beliefs upon his constituents- that’s the same guy - right? Now he is in charge of abusing and mistreating asylum seekers. - there is no end to the cruelty of this administration.

He's a man with plenty of hate in his heart. Our country is going to need some serious healing after all this is over.

Mr. Cuccinelli needs to answer this question honestly: When your ancestors arrived at Ellis island, would you have wanted them sent back to Italy if they had life threatening medical issues?

Isn’t it rich that descendants of mostly European “recent” immigrants who have enjoyed the benefits of this melting pot that is our country are the ones who have made themselves gatekeepers? Yes, our immigration system is a mess and needs fixing but not at the cost of our collective national soul. There is no version of narratives that will told my future generations that will laud immigration hardliners today as heroes.

Cuccinelli, a devout Catholic... Right. I think he might have missed something in Christ's teachings.

Just because Cuccinelli's bigoted policies are based on a belief system doesn't put him to the right of Trump. Trump is every bit as much the cruel bigot, though in his case it flows from a pathological personality defect.

I doubt if Cuccinelli will survive Trump's mercurial temperament and may be gone before you know just like his fellow countryman, Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 10 days.

Ken Cuccinelli is the Public Face of the ugly American - within America.

Can we please stop saying Trump is a “street fighter”? The thought of him engaging in any physical activity at all, let alone one that could harm him, is ridiculous.

Mr. Cuccinelli being reared in Virginia, must have spent a great deal of time in "The Great Dismal Swamp" honing his hate filled skills. He's just another one of those creatures coming out of the swamp to served the rat invested White House.